Recently I spoke to a person at the environmental admin regarding the new black box it' bins in Dartford, and I was told to write in with my concerns which in a nutshell are as follows:

1. The instructional leaflets (provided by DBC according to the box makers) are misleading and not very sensible.

2. The bins/boxes are too light and the wrong colour, making them dangerous.

3. The bins are not big enough.

The instructional leaflets use the word "dry" and tell us to leave the lids off on collection day.

On Thursday, November 3, it was very wet and windy, hence people's dry recycleables got soaking wet, but more environmentally unfriendly, much of the paper, plastic bottles etc were blown our the bins to litter gardens, paths and roadways.

I biked from Mounts Road to Swanscombe Village and the amount of rubbish strewn around was disgraceful.

I was told on the phone that commonsense should tell people to leave lids on in windy weather.

I agree to a certain extent, but from my observations 95 per cent were following instructions and the fear is, if the lids are left on, the box will not be emptied.

I read with interest the paragraph in the leaflet re: "meeting government standards, financial penalty and the threat of higher council taxes".

I think it unfair if the scheme itself produces more rubbish on the streets, as it did on Thursday and will do in future wet and windy days. The scheme will be self defeating.

The other important issue is the size, weight and colour of the boxes. They are too small, (most I saw were overflowing, hence the littered streets etc). They are far too light and at night cannot be seen.

Out on my bike heading along Mounts Road (a very poorly lit road) I almost hit four boxes that had been blown, empty, into the road. Obviously a potential there for a nasty accident!

Why not provide a brightly coloured mini wheelie bin as they have done in Greenwich and Essex for the past 20 years?

Come on Dartford, a necessary initiative but poorly thought through and poorly executed. We need more practical boxes and better instructions.

T McCarthy, Greenhithe