By Keith A. Spears; Chairman, Colliers Wood Residents Association

Your photographs in last week's paper of over-flowing bins in Wimbledon Park and South Park Gardens look familiar to those of us who visit the Recreation Ground and the Myrna Close Nature Reserve in Colliers Wood.

Part of the problem is that Merton Council's budget has been cut by the Government and they have less money to pay staff to pick up rubbish and empty bins.

But the other part of the problem is the public, local shops and supermarkets.

It's the public who leave bags of cans, bottles and fast food containers in the parks, which could be taken home and recycled.

Almost all of our waste can now be recycled and plastic bags can be used again.

It's local shops and supermarkets that hand out free plastic bags to every customer whether they want them or not!

And it's these bags that feature in your photographs.

The average life of a plastic bag is 12 minutes before it's disposed of. It then takes 300 years to decompose.

It's a waste of plastic, a waste of oil, a waste of energy and they pollute our environment.

If customers were charged 10p for a plastic bag, they would re-use them.

If there was a 10p deposit on each can and bottle, they would be returned to the shop that they came from.

We do need more staff to look after our parks and open spaces, but we also need a change in public behaviour and greater corporate responsibility.

Make sure your voice is heard by sending your letter to: letters@wimbledonguardian.co.uk

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