Madam,

The picture accompanying your report, ‘Rubbish paints a poor picture of the town’, shows litter from torn clear recycling bags rather than black waste bags.

At one time birds, particularly gulls, seemed to be able to distinguish between the sacks and would preferentially attack those containing waste.

I get the impression that birds have found food hard to come by in the recent drought with a consequent increase in attempts to obtain nourishment from this source.

The problem with the recycling bags has not been helped by the reduction in the thickness of the bags issued. They are now one third the thickness of the initial issue. They seem to be made of a plastic that is stronger on a weight-to-weight basis. There is only a 12 per cent reduction in the force needed to stretch the plastic to failure.

Unfortunately I have not been able to lay my hands on a British Standard Seagull for proper comparative penetration-resistance testing.

Reducing the strength of the bags can only have exacerbated this problem. Any saving in the cost of the bags could well be offset by the increased costs of clearing up the mess when they fail.

Aberystwyth is attempting to be a “plastic-free town”. I understand this refers to single-use plastics. These recycling bags would appear to be an example par excellence of a single-use plastic.

I know they take up more storage space, which can be a problem for small flats, but many councils issue plastic boxes, or even wheelie bins, for recycling. I have not yet seen a gull rip one of these open. Can Ceredigion justify their present recycling arrangements?

Yours etc, David Kirby, Cae Melyn, Aberystwyth.

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