Now, I'm not complaining about the noise of heavy trucks along our residential street, nor the sound of empty bottles cascading into the recycling compartment. Yes, you've guessed - I refer to the frequent and different refuse vehicles that visit throughout the week. I can never understand why these trips aren't consolidated by having the local council take over the task. I mention this because in England that's how the job is done. Especially In these days of less pollution, the need for a cleaner environment and the problems of global warming. Here I quote from an English newspaper with a headline ---"Half of all councils scrap weekly bin rounds". That caused me to shudder a bit at the thoughts of accumulated trash, especially during hot weather, plus the increasing smell of rotting food, insect problems and perhaps rodent visits. I believe this idea would encourage more fly-tipping around the area with an increasing health risk. Thank goodness for weekly collections here! Evidently the main reason is to encourage more recycling of waste products and to cutback on landfill sites.

A further worry that seems prevalent on both sides of the 'pond' is the use, re-use or banning of plastic bags. Supermarkets are gradually weaning us off them. Unfortunately people have regarded them as a habit of shopping behaviour. On the debit side they flap on tree branches, blow down the street like tumbleweed, hang on fences, ooze their chemicals into the ground and drift around the edges of oceans. Birds die after eating plastic, dolphins trail plastic bags and seals become trapped in discarded fishing nets and plastic debris. The sea keeping the plastic forever. It is interesting to note that the earliest disposal shopping bag was invented by Charles Stillwell, a 19 th century entrepreneur from Philadelphia. He built a machine to mass-produce his bags, sold the rights, moved to England and spent the rest of his life trying to prove that Shakespeare's plays were really written by Sir Francis Bacon! The modern plastic bag only arrived in the mid-1970's, manufactured from petrochemicals in the form of polyethylene.

Last year Madonna launched a limited edition rope and canvas tote bag with the logo "I'm not a plastic bag". Marks and Spencer have begun charging customers 10c for each bag used at its food checkouts, their rivals having similar plans. London's newest store, Whole Foods in Kensington, have banned plastic bags and Ikea only offer reusable 'blue bags' for 60c each.

Perhaps the plastic bag will be on its way out - eventually. Then maybe we will have a cleaner environment and a less plasticated future in this convenience-obsessed world.