Every month we pay council tax so we can pay for the services of police, fire fighters, refuse collections and the maintenance and support of local schools, hospitals and leisure centres. Each year a specific amount is allocated to each sector, but since the pressure to adopt a greener way of living has been high on the agenda there has been a noticeable change in the environmental services on offer.

Previously environmental services were primarily concerned with the weekly collection of domestic household refuse. Before the advent of plastic packaging this consisted of relatively little as most items were in re-useable containers and composting kitchen waste was a common practice. In fact the term \'dustbin\' comes from its original purpose, to hold ash from the fireplace and dust from the house before disposal.

The new trend towards eco awareness has seen the habits of many householders turn full circle and we are once again composting kitchen waste and sorting our refuse for recycling. This has meant that the environmental services provided by the local government have had to be modified to meet demand. One of the first changes that have been made has been to reduce household waste collection to once every two weeks. It is hoped that it will encourage people to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill.

In conjunction with this councils have supplied householders with bags, boxes and sacks for recycling. The typical recycling collections now consist of glass, paper, plastics, cloth and garden clippings. There is also an incentive to encourage composting in the form of reduced price quick kitchen composters, ideal for people who live in areas where the garden is too small to accommodate a full size compost bin.

Even though recycling plastics, paper and glass helps our environment, it is still a situation that is far from ideal. Recycling still uses energy and energy is still used to create the objects that end up being recycled. As we become more aware of the impact a modern way of living has on our environment, we will be encouraged to buy goods that have little or no packaging to reduce our waste further.

The affect this will have on the type of environmental services we will be receiving from local councils remains to be seen, but it is likely that the sector will steadily be needed less and less as we come to terms with turning our backs on our throw away culture.