• UNFORTUNATELY, the orange bags are just the most visible defect in Camden’s recently negotiated waste collection service with Veolia, (End of the orange bin bags, January 3).

I am afraid the contract Camden cobbled together with them is deeply flawed because it fails to recognise that virtually every house in Camden is multi-occupied. Perhaps Veolia, being based in France, did not know that, but did Camden officers not tell them?

This means that in most cases there is no one responsible for dealing with the bins and so the system is bound to fail.

In our case, with nine flats, we have a set of bins which are stored in a yard at the side of the house, used by all residents, so there is no one with any direct responsibility for them.

We are self-managed and, fortunately, have a maintenance man visiting once a week. And he puts our bins into the front garden when he comes on a Wednesday. But he only comes once a week so after the bins are emptied who will put them back into the yard?

People working often don’t get back until late, which means the bins are out in the street most of the day, unsightly at best, but encouraging fly-tipping in many places. And the same is happening all over Camden making most streets look like rubbish dumps.

Again, in our case, a couple of the flats have older residents (my wife and I for a start). We are retired and around during the day, so we often end up doing this but, as we age, this becomes a real chore with as many as 10 large bins needing to be moved. Another retired neighbour is very slight and this is beyond her abilities. And putting the full wheelie bins out is beyond us both!

Our house is 120 years old and for all but the last two has had a perfectly simple rubbish collection process and this must be reinstated.

As for Cllr Adam Harrison’s excuse – that government cuts are why Camden has to penny-pinch like this – as I have said before, it is time all the councils in England got together and told this lousy government that these massive cuts are making it impossible for them to provide even basic services.

It is not just rubbish collection that is being affected. Almost all council services are under pressure from pre-school centres to elderly care, and it is time for Labour to demand a change.
Councils provide vital services and need proper funding. The Tories are failing Britain at every level, and it’s time we had a government which will take back control.

DAVID REED
Eton Avenue, NW3