COMMENT: Let's start new year recycling with a clean slate

People are understandably worried about where all this extra festive waste is going to go.

And everyone’s first fear is always vermin – foxes and rats the size of cats...

That’s the situation in Hilsea following Portsmouth City Council’s introduction of new rules on how much households can throw away.

At the moment, too much is going to landfill and not enough is being recycled.

In a bid to reduce one and increase the other, the council will only take one 140-litre bin full of refuse bags each week.

The decision is admirable – we do not recycle enough. We have one planet and we must do all we can to look after it.

But at Christmas the amount of extra waste families produce is probably enough to fill two weeks’ worth of rubbish sacks per household.

In Hilsea Crescent, refuse collectors took an extra couple of bags per property but there are still bags piled high in the street.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that they will stay there – it’s unlikely everyone with leftover rubbish will follow council leader Donna Jones’ advice and take it to the tip.

This will lead to dirty nappies and potato peelings being strewn across the pavements by hungry foxes breaking through the bin bags.

Surely, just this once, while people are getting used to the idea of becoming greener, the council could scoop up all the rubbish?

If it’s not done then it will be flooded with complaints and end up with an even bigger headache.

It’s not ideal, but it seems like common sense to start the new year with a clean slate.