Over the weekend, neighbours told us that two ‘odd-looking’ men had rifled through the rubbish in our black bin.

They may have been looking for personal data?

They had split the bags open leaving a real mess and not wanting the refuge collectors to have to deal with this nasty mess (infection control, etc), we emptied the bin and re-bagged all the rubbish —not a nice job!

On Tuesday, refuse collectors did not empty our (full) brown recycle bin (it seems it was contaminated by two small pieces of polystyrene).

This means we have nowhere to put our recycling products for the next two weeks.

Advice from the council — put it in your neighbours’ bins (I’m sure they would love that), or put it in your black bin (but then we would not be recycling).

When I asked why the refuse collectors could not have knocked on the door and asked us to remove the two very small pieces of polystyrene I was told very sharply that they don’t have time for that.

We did our best to respect the health and safety of our refuge collectors — and we really value the work they do. It’s a shame they did not afford the same common courtesy to us. I don’t really blame the chaps who do the work — it’s the people who create the stupid rules — not allowed to knock on people’s doors and help them, what rubbish!

Jeanette McMullen

Tallis Way, Borehamwood