Letter: Let's go Dutch for the best recycling policy

After many years living in the Netherlands I have seen how it can work well.

We had a black wheelie bin for non-recyclables, green wheelie bin for garden waste and our ‘slop bucket’.

Glass you put in a container which was placed at the end of most streets (which went underground in 2010) minus the beer bottles which went back to the supermarket because you put a deposit on them and the crate; these then went back to brewery to be re-used.

Paper and cardboard were collected by a charity once a month and I often picked up cardboard boxes from the supermarket who offer them free of charge instead of a plastic carrier bag.

Plastic: well this was new around 2008, a monthly collection that turned fortnightly very quickly. When the Dutch say ‘plastic’ it means plastic; the only things not accepted were clingfilm and polystyrene, which to be fair are well past any reincarnation.

So why, when Suez had so much notice on recycling plastic can they only do ‘hard’ plastic?

What really gets to me is that Suez does not tell people why they don’t take their rubbish, so instantly everyone says ‘up yours’ and dumps it in the black bin.

I will not be beaten. The only way to clean up is by kicking the butts of Suez. Perhaps Calderdale can help.