WITH regard to the letter on recycling (January 26): Here in Tasmania we have a scheme put forward by several of the larger grocery concerns. They sell strong green/blue bags with a stiff base made of recyclable material which can be used repeatedly for groceries etc. Then there is a policy of not providing plastic bags for less than three articles. This scheme has caught on very well and most families have at least three bags to cope with weekly shopping in addition to blue lined freezer bags in which you can put cold blocks for perishable items. One township has outlawed plastic bags altogether. We also have a kerbside recycling programme in which the council provides households with a wheelie bin for rubbish together with another bin for recyclable bottles tins etc. We bundle up newspapers and cardboard separately and all this is collected weekly or fortnightly in some municipalities. So it can be done. Thelma Grunnell nee Ball Old Tavistokian Tavistock405@ yahoo.com.au IT?S good to hear that West Devon has improved its recycling of rubbish so much. There is, however, a long way to go to catch up with the best. Cambridgeshire, I believe, manages to recycle nearly 60% of its waste. Members of the public could help to improve this target by the simple expedient of squashing tins and bottles before placing them in the skips. Very few do so, from my observation. No special equipment is needed for this, other than a firmly applied foot, and it would just about double the effective capacity of the skips. If there are notices giving this advice, they are insufficiently prominent for me to have noticed them. Perhaps Jane Savage (West Devon Borough Council recycling officer) could add this to her list of tips? K Vines Kilmantain Horrabridge