I want to protest at the way Wychavon District Council has brought in new improvements to our waste collection system.

If I had not picked up the Wychavon Magazine which was inserted in the Journal last week, I would have had no idea that any changes had been made! The council will now not take any garden waste to the tip for you unless you have purchased some of their special sacks from their shop at a cost of £16/ten.

We have calculated that if there are about 200 households in Peopleton and each of them has to now do a round trip of 14 miles to Hill and Moor to dispose of their garden waste, that this means a total of 2,800 miles per week. This multiplies up to 150,000 miles per annum - and at an average of 30mpg, this means that an extra 5,000 gallons of fuel will be used each year just to take garden waste from Peopleton to Hill and Moor! How in any way is this good for our environment, when the government is trying to get us to use less fuel to reduce pollution? How will the poorest and eldest in our community manage to dispose of their garden waste if they do not possess transport or cannot afford the special sacks? We already have a fly-tipping problem in Peopleton, as a regular load of garden waste appears at the little crossroads which goes to Cowsden in the lane leading to Upton Snodsbury. This is no doubt going to get a lot worse and who will have to clear it up - why, Wychavon District Council of course! Who will be paying for this out of their council tax - why, us of course! We know for a fact that certain amount of organic matter has to be put into the layers in landfill sites in between the non-organic matter in order for effective breakdown to occur. Even if we all take our garden waste to the tip they are still going to have to use it to make the landfill site work. This is just a cynical attempt by the district council to cut costs and make more money out of us, as they do not, under current legislation, have to take garden waste from households. They do not appear to have any regard for the extra damage to the environment that this new policy will have. Just imagine the extra mileage that will occur in this area with every single household having to go to the tip every week!

MRS KATHERINE WESTGATE, Monks Way, Peopleton.