IN reply to the letter by William Hutton (Shuttle/Times & News website, May 20) I would point out that whilst the bins are emptied every night in Spain, including where I live on the Costa del Sol, these bins are community bins used by residents within a particular locale.

They are not bins individually allocated to specific households.

As for the street cleaners, many of them are from the ranks of the unemployed who are in receipt of benefit.

We do have mechanical street cleaning machines here - many of them - but the ayuntamiento (council) do not rely entirely upon them.

Just one last point, I do not know how much Wyre Forest council tax is now but in Spain we pay around 50 euros per year, not the £60 per month I used to pay. What do they do with all that money?

MARK SCHUBERT

Costa del Sol, Spain