I REFER to the article in the Advertiser on October 18, with regard to the European Union's targets for the landfill of biodegradable municipal waste headlined "Council faces fine of £28 million."

Mechanisms are in place to ensure Swindon will not incur fines as part of these new regulations.

Firstly, the borough council has not had its initial BMW landfill allocation confirmed by Defra and no predictions should be made on possible fines incurred in 2020, should no extra diversion of BMW be carried out.

Secondly, it would be folly to predict no further recycling and waste minimisation schemes will be introduced before the first targets for landfill of BMW come into place.

In the past year Swindon Services has introduced a kerbside recyclables collection to half of the houses in the borough, a garden waste collection available to all residents and opened a recycling centre at Cheney Manor.

If these schemes can be introduced in a year, the future for waste management over 15 years must be bright.

The article also makes an assumption waste will grow by four per cent year on year. However, the rate of waste growth in Swindon since 1997 is below the national average of 2.1 per cent. This can partly be attributed to the waste minimisation measures by Swindon Services, such as the compost bin give away and the waste awareness initiatives carried out by over the past five years.

J F SHORT

Director Swindon Services