I WAS fascinated to learn that Wiltshire Council is going to be sending round recycling officers to offer advice to those families struggling to squeeze all their “residual waste” into one bin under the new fortnightly service.

I’m glad I’m not one of those officers. I can imagine where some people will tell them to put their rubbish.

If they call on me I’ll explain very politely that you can put all your cardboard and some – though by no means all – types of plastic in your blue bin, and pile up your papers, bottles and cans in your black box.

You can even tip your veg peel on the compost heap, as we do, but with a household of five adults, as I had over the summer, plus weekend visitors, you can’t always keep your “residual” waste within the confines of one wheelie bin a fortnight.

In principle I’m absolutely supportive of the council’s drive to reduce the amount it sends to landfill.

And I particularly like the fact that the dustmen now continue their rounds on bank holidays rather than expecting us to work out exactly how many days later they’ll turn up.

But there are bound to be snags with any new system from time to time.

My other half is a keen sailor and fisherman, and often comes back from Poole proudly bearing a haul of gleaming mackerel.

Yummy, you might think. And you’d be right, up to a point.

It wasn’t quite so scrummy when the bony, scaly remains had been gently cooking in the dustbin for ten days during one of the few periods this summer when the sun decided to come out and play a little.

Phew, I thought as I lifted the lid. God help those families who have nappies to dispose of!

However, since cutting back on collections of Salisbury’s smelly stuff was the only way the council could afford to improve its recycling service to the rest of the county, we just have to put up with the occasional inconvenience.

And possibly eat less fish in hot weather.

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