SIR,

Monmouthshire County Council have recently announced that they will supply each household with a pack containing one roll of 26 red recycling bags, one roll of 26 purple recycling bags, one roll of 26 compostable bags and two rolls of 26 clear bags for residual waste – a year's supply.

Doing a quick calculation based on the weight of each roll of bags and the number of households in Monmouthshire, this adds up to more than 100 tonnes of non-degradable plastic every year, which if incinerated would produce over 300 tonnes of the greenhouse gas CO2.

If not incinerated it would remain in the environment essentially for ever. At the same time, of course, we as residents are trying to reduce the amount of plastic we throw away.

Monmouthshire County Council, on the other hand, seem to be immune to such environmentally friendly attitudes.

The long-term answer is to adopt wheelie bins for our residual rubbish together with community or local recycling points (as in France, Germany, etc and some UK authorities).

This would involve higher costs in the short term, but be energy and cost efficient in the long term.

We also wouldn't have to put up with countless, untidy, multi-coloured bags littering the roadsides for days on end throughout the year.

Dr Anthony Owen

(Monmouth)