SIR — We have just returned to West Somerset from North Wales to read in the Free Press that West Somerset Council has decided it will not extend its recycling services.

Mynytho, the small village where we have been staying, is exactly the same distance from its nearest recycling depot as we are from the depot in Williton - round trip of 12 miles if we deliver the items ourselves.

In Gwynedd, however, there are house to house collections as follows - fortnightly general rubbish, fortnightly garden waste and food waste and weekly glass, tins, plastic bottles, card and paper.

Because of the additional amount of recyclable items collected, the general rubbish collections are fortnightly, not weekly.

I am not able to make an appropriate comparison of cost to the councils in West Somerset and Gwynedd, but council tax for a band E property in Mynytho in 2009 is £1,413.39 and in West Somerset £1,764.48. Gwynedd is a unitary authority.

Recycling more, especially in the current economic downturn, should provide opportunities for us.

With ingenuity, and with the smallest possible carbon footprint, it should be possible to create new industries, some perhaps in West Somerset, re-using or remodelling the recyclable materials, materials that we the tax payers provide free while paying the council to collect them. We need new industries and new jobs.

The composting of garden waste carried out in Bridgwater and Castle Cary already is a great idea, but we need more of these.

Why is there money available to collect so many items to be recycled in remote parts of Gwynedd but not in West Somerset?

Why is house to house recycling not given a higher priority in this district?

Diana Pulvermacher,

Higher Vexford,

Lydeard St Lawrence.