Letter to the Editor: At the start of 2023, already Ceredigion County Council cannot get their domestic waste collection right (Real anger over missed bin collections, Cambrian News, 11 January). Not even two weeks in, it seems they are adopting an “as-and-when-they-feel-like-it” approach which is causing much distress for those of us living in rural areas.

The week commencing 28 December, our calender provided by the council— an interesting work of fiction — has our Wednesday collection marked with a diamond shape, meaning apparently “may be disrupted by the bank holiday”. I would like to draw attention to the word “may”, that is not a definite “will not”, it is a possibility, however, no waste collection occurred, and this after Christmas when recycling is high and people are putting out cardboard boxes.

Eventually, the council website stated that there would be no collection until Wednesday, 3 January. Until this notice was made, we all kept our waste collection out, ready for collection, and what was the weather like? High winds and heavy rain, many recyling bags being blown around the lanes, indeed one of mine ended up in the road, and before I could retrieve it, a passing motorist, instead of kindly stopping and picking it up, used it as target practice.

Many in the area live up long drives or lanes and have to collect their waste at the end of the lane, it is a great effort to have to retake back to the house only to have to put it out again, not knowing if it will actually be collected, so many elect to leave it in situ.

As for the cardboard boxes, due to the heavy rain, these are now all mush on the side of the road.

January 3rd arrives, we all have two weeks worth of recycling for collection, bearing in mind, much of this is still the Christmas detritus, there are now between three and five bags for collection per household, plus more food waste,

The black bag and bottles are collected, but by the end of the day, the recycling is still firmly in place.

This is simply not acceptable, what are we paying our council tax for? As it increases every year, can we please have an increase in quality of services, this is not too much to expect.

Marc Perry, Llanafan