People will face unfair waste charges

Undersecretary for the environment Christine Loh ("Charges one tool for waste management", September 17) responded to my letter ("Charging scheme won't lead to less household waste", September 12), saying we have to make people pay for the waste they generate "based on their own decisions and lifestyles".

I don't "misunderstand": a blanket-charging scheme that penalises everyone is more punitive than an incentive.

I recently visited a large mall to see the waste generated. Four-wheel trolleys with loads of flattened boxes more than a metre high were aggregated at a collection point.

Food waste was being collected at one restaurant in large bins over a metre tall. I don't know if that waste would be compacted, composted, fed to pigs, or sent to the landfill, but the volume was impressive.

In contrast, at our household of four people and four pets, following last Tuesday's three meals, we had some paper packaging, six tins, two bottles, one empty milk carton, and the waste tissue paper from the toilet. The organic waste was less than a saucepan full of apple peels and cores, two banana skins, and a small amount of food from the drain filter in the kitchen sink.

We'd like to recycle the cans and bottles, but our housing estate has no facilities.