SO we re all going green. Or that seems to be the idea behind the introduction of the new bin collection scheme. Now we separate the newspapers from the plastic bottles and the plastic bottles from the tin cans. It s simple. Or so it should be. But exactl

SO we're all going green. Or that seems to be the idea behind the introduction of the new bin collection scheme.

Now we separate the newspapers from the plastic bottles and the plastic bottles from the tin cans.

It's simple. Or so it should be.

But exactly which bin were we meant to put out on Monday morning.

It was such a dilemma. Is this brown bin week (or as we are told recycling week) or the grey bin (which is waste week).

By the way I'm still working out why the black bin has become a grey bin. But that's another matter.

You see unlike the rest of the world (or North Herts, at least) we had not received our CD or the schedule for collections.

So it could have been a matter of guesswork.

The solution? Look up and down the road and see what is happening elsewhere.

The problem, however, was that no-one else had put out their bin for the pavement collection.

And it became more complicated when we were told that part of the town had a black bin collection while the rest had a brown bin collection. So which part of the town were we?

And yet another solution. Put out all the bins and see what's not collected and then work out future collections from there.

Really, that wasn't practical.

So it was a return to the days before the change in bin collections.

The newspapers were deposited in the recycling container in the town hall car park and the bottles went into the glass container.

That, at least, prevented us being the victims of the wrath of the bin collectors.

Then common sense prevailed. In these modern times visit the council's website.

And there we had the answer. It was going to be black bin day or grey bin day or waste day.

But that has not prevented us now having glass jars and bottles sitting in the sink while the labels are removed or making a collection of plastic bottle tops, or even, as usual a pile of newspapers.

Still like everyone else we will learn - and, hopefully, help save the planet.

Seriously, though, we need to give the scheme a chance and, I expect, eventually, we will come to accept a recycling culture.

Meanwhile, what do we do with all those labels and plastic bottle tops?