Sir – In his letter (April 14) and in an article the previous week councillor Tanner extols the virtues of the new pay-for garden waste scheme where one is given a 240-litre wheelie bin, to be emptied once a fortnight, at an annual charge of £35 (£1.34 a fortnight).

He notes in passing that "if people don't have space" non-reusable paper sacks are available at a cost of £35 for 20.

The primary demand for sacks as opposed to bins will be from the many residents of terraced houses with no front gardens, but frequently with substantial gardens at the back, so space is not the issue. If they do not wish to wheel a bin through the house, perhaps over carpets or up and down steps, the bags are the only option.

Councillor Tanner fails to note that the bags have a capacity of only 75 litres. Thus the cost of the same annual volume of collection is over £145 (£5.60 per fortnight), over four times the bin charge.

I cannot believe the collection cost is four times as great for bags as opposed to bins. In any case, the total cost of the service should be equally distributed, rather than penalizing those unfortunate enough to live in the wrong sort of house.

Clark Brundin, Oxford