"Tackling waste" (in the current issue of Brighton and Hove City Council's City News) is as good an example of effete coffee-break reading as you will see anywhere.

Pictures of smiling recyclers and cheerful official guff do not disguise the fact the problem of waste is not being tackled.

If councils were serious, they might consider fighting the actual production of waste (mostly packaging) or leaning on firms who do not pull their weight on recycling.

They might refuse planning permission to stores known to make cynical use of packaging to enhance sales (such as sealing three courgettes together - one to eat, two to throw away, plus packaging).

They might withdraw licences from pubs and restaurants who do not recycle their millions of bottles. If councils were serious, they would organise realistic door-to-door collection (one that everybody could do - black bag wet and dirty, yellow bag clean and dry) plus a state-of-the-art clean sorting facility.

Apart from anything else, councillors and council officers might consider informing themselves about the whole subject of waste management from the wealth of scientific and other material in journals and on the internet. They might then learn something about the numerous safe alternatives to landfill and incineration.

-R Forbes, Camelford Street, Brighton