Sir – As a resident of Summertown, I should like to endorse Alison Scarlett’s favourable comments (Letters, January 13) about the local refuse collection, at least in this part of Oxford. I am well aware that in some districts the collection service has, of late, been far from satisfactory and, of course, one can only feel sympathy for those residents surrounded by mounds of uncollected, rotting rubbish.

That said, the binmen’s actions here in Summertown have generally been commendable. For all the atrocious conditions in the week leading up to Christmas, collections were still managed when they should have been.

Now we no longer have to separate recyclable materials, life has been made much easier. As for the weekly food waste collection, it is first class and one can only wonder why it was not introduced long ago.

Nicholas Wilson, Oxford