May I counter the unjustified negative image of our waste collection service on your front page early last week.

We have an excellent and committed team of waste collection staff who are extremely effective in emptying household bins and dealing with residual rubbish by back-up street cleaning, and have again this year risen magnificently to the special challenges of carnival day. But, of course, there is a time lag between bin emptying and street sweeping. All the pictures with which you were supplied relate to the early morning period between rubbish collection and street sweeping.

It is particularly telling that all the rubbish you highlight is from torn loose black bags – not from wheelie bins or the seagull-proof reusable bags which we have supplied free of charge to those without wheelie bins in this area for the past eighteen months.

Any councillor who has accompanied the waste staff on a round knows what a great improvement these bags have made.

That is why it is particularly sad that Cllr Pearson criticises our hard-working waste staff rather than praising them for their efforts and encouraging residents to make use of amenities supplied free of charge.

Ian Roebuck (Cllr), Briefholder for the Environment and Sustainability Weymouth, Bay Avenue, Weymouth