NOW the reason has come out as to why Bury Council attached chips to the blue bins.

They are capable of weighing the contents of a bin to within 500 grammes, which will allow councils to introduce a stealth tax levied on the amount of rubbish put out.

This is daft, not because we may be taxed, but because the tax would be on the wrong bin. What goes in the blue bin should be material that can be recycled. If people are putting rubbish in, it is because we haven't been given any specific direction as to what should go in the blue bin. If the tax were on the grey bin, that would make some sense, but to tax the blue bin would be a negative incentive. The more you recycle, the more you pay. Why can't this government for once treat us as sensible, responsible, citizens who want the best for their environment?

This further points out the urgent need for the Comprehensive Guide to Recycling which I have suggested before.

Information is coming from the BBC One programme, Real Story, the Daily Express, the Bury Times, the internet and the Local Government Association (LGA).

It is barely possible that our local council don't even know the real story.

Meanwhile, money is being wasted on chips. We are not the only ones who are upset about these chips. Householders in other areas have been removing them and either dumping them or posting them to the local town hall. One of the biggest shows of defiance has been in Bournemouth where councillors estimate that 25,000 bugs (a third of the total) have been unscrewed.

BILL BRISON, Bury