SINCE Hereford Council introduced the new refuse collection service which includes items of plastic, I have found myself looking at all the products I am putting out for collection.

To my surprise a well-known soft butter product did not carry the PET 1 or HDPE 2 symbols, so I wrote to the company concerned.

I received a very informative letter explaining their tubs and lids are recyclable and are made from polypropylene. Armed with this information I phoned the refuse hot line, only to be told we can't take polypropylene as the recycling plant the council use has not the facility to process this type of plastic, but there are plants that can, but we don't use them. I also mentioned there are lots more plastic containers that do not show any symbols and would it not be possible for councils to press companies to do this, the answer was it is up to the public to do this, it also applies to over packaging like the boxes for Easter eggs, not many people are aware that the cost of packaging is added to the cost of the goods.

So let's have a go at companies that over pack their goods and those that don't tell us if it is recyclable, after all we are told that the world is running out of natural materials. Incidentally, I received a voucher from the butter company for a FREE 500g tub.

MRS JAN FOYLE,

Hereford Lane,

Kingsland,

Leominster.