Sir, The city council proposals to move to a new collection scheme give cause for concern. Recycled items will be collected one week and household waste the next with boxes for recycled waste, garden sacks for garden rubbish and wheelie bins for household waste.

The move to fortnightly collection of household waste are concerning for following reasons: 1: Many houses do not have an appropriate space for a wheelie bin 2: The storage of waste in warm weather will lead to increased vermin and smells.

If a household (such as one used for multiple occupation) overfills the wheelie bin the rubbish will not be collected, leading to dumping in neighbours' bins and an increase in fly-tipping. As a consequence their neighbours will have to put up with the problems associated with this and accumulated rubbish sitting around until collected.

Whilst there are some good aspects to the new scheme it will only work if weekly collections of household waste continue. Councillor Fooks rejects this as she considers it will undermine residents' commitment to recycling. She also appears to be ignoring the World Health Organization who advise weekly collections in temperate climates and the fact that 11 councils have recently reverted back to weekly collections.

There has been no research on the effect on residents and evaluation of the fortnightly collection schemes. The Department of Environment only recently announced they are now commissioning a survey. I would ask the council to delay introduction of the scheme until they can guarantee that household waste will not cause environmental hazards in this city.

Annie Skinner, Oxford