In the Sixties, people in Germany withheld money from their electricity bills in protest against electricity companies building nuclear power stations.

Forty years later, they are starting to be decommissioned.

I wonder what would happen in Brighton and Hove if people withheld part of their council taxes?

The part that would otherwise go towards the new recycling scheme Sita has just been contracted for could be put aside towards expanding Magpie's excellent service.

Or it could be put into an interest-earning account from which alternative technologies could be supported.

How many complaints have there been about the shocking service Sita is providing? And yet it has been given the contract to experiment with newspaper recycling.

What a complete waste of public money. Sita has a bad track record. Rubbish "roams freely" in the city even after Sita has been taken to task. Imagine the number of newspapers joining this roaming rubbish.

Magpie has an excellent record. In my street alone, only two collections have been missed in as many years.

The box was collected next day on both occasions. Why wasn't Magpie given the contract - because it is a fraction more expensive? It doesn't add up.

-Rosi Bryer, Peel Road, Brighton