It is pleasing to read that Malvern Hills District Council's efforts to increase recycling are being appreciated (Mrs J H Vivian, Your Letters, May 21).

Mrs Vivian is absolutely right. There is a societal need to address the issue of 'over-packaging' quite as much as recycling. Almost everybody agrees about that and we clearly need to give much more attention to the other two Rs of effective waste minimisation - reduce and reuse (alongside recycling).

Malvern Hills has made a start where most rapid progress is likely to be made and the statistics on recycling for the first three months of the kerbside collection scheme are encouraging - with our target already being met.

But we do need to consolidate on this achievement by resolving the teething problems, particularly missed collections, and bag rejections at the recycling plant due to inadequately sorted content.

Our immediate priority is to continue to raise the participation rate of householders in the recycling scheme - and to that end we need to win more hearts and minds of the public by improving the reliability of the service, by promoting the scheme more effectively and by making separation and recycling as easy as possible for residents.

Beyond that immediate goal we certainly want to move further forward on waste minimisation in the wider sense.

Later this summer we will be holding some public meetings to review and 'stock-take' progress to date and to consider our next steps on this developing agenda.

Promoting waste minimisation among local businesses, encouraging more composting schemes, extending provision for glass recycling and working more closely with parish councils on community waste minimisation initiatives are just some of the themes that we want to discuss next.

As always, the council can only do so much. Our success in making Malvern Hills a more environmentally-friendly district depends ultimately on the commitment of residents, businesses and visitors.

While Malvern Hills District Council will certainly continue to provide leadership and support for the cause, it is people power that will ultimately determine precisely how far we get in cutting Mrs Vivian's packaging and minimising other waste.

COUN JOHN W RAINE, spokesman for recycling, Malvern Hills District Council, Brockhill Road, West Malvern.