• NO responsible resident can disagree with Councillor Gary Heather’s assertion that “Councillors have a duty to manage our waste… that means finding… the political will… to reduce, reuse and increase recycling with the aim of phasing out incineration”, (Why I backed new incinerator, December 17).

So perhaps the elected representative for Finsbury Park would like to get on with it, instead of taking a side-swipe at “environmental campaigners” and Green Party councillor Caroline Russell, the only effective opposition in the town hall; at the same time ignoring completely the borough’s many residents who wish simply to behave in an environmentally responsible manner.

The latter demographic doesn’t even appear to be on Cllr Heather’s radar.

Questions: One. How are residents expected to dispose safely of mercury-filled LED light bulbs?

Here’s a part response received this summer from the North London Waste Authority, of which Islington is a member: “We are assessing the current set-up at Hornsey Street Reuse and Recycling Centre to provide residents with a more appropriate receptacle for the light bulbs.

“We believe that this will reduce the risk of light bulbs breaking when being disposed of in the designated receptacle. Included in this, we will also speak to the company that disposes of light bulbs on our behalf, to understand if they have a designated waste receptacle that we could use to improve the waste disposable of LED light bulbs at the RRC. [Your] feedback is genuinely useful to improve our services and avoid any potential issues in the future”.

Blah, blah, blah as a well-known environmental campaigner might say.

And: Two. Same question regarding the disposal of old textiles that are beyond second-hand use and or at the end of their recycled life as, for example, cleaning-clothes, draught-excluders, or many of the other ingenious ways in which residents seek to behave responsibly?

Just two everyday items for which there are currently no safe and responsible local recycling facilities, a grossly unsatisfactory state of affairs that has existed since the Hornsey Road centre opened years ago.

I’d love to hear how the Heather household disposes of same. Leading by example is a great way to encourage us ordinary residents to behave responsibly.

Meantime it should come as no surprise to the good councillor that such items will continue to be discarded along with household rubbish destined for landfill.

MEG HOWARTH
Ellington Street, N7