AS a family, we consider ourselves to be responsible citizens.

We think of our neighbours and we take pride in the area where we reside.

And this includes our attitude to something which concerns all of us – litter.

I would never drop any litter in the street or leave it anywhere I have been, and I don’t understand the attitude of those people who do. You can easily put it in your bag or pocket until you find a bin, or carry it if it’s too messy to be put near your clothes.

An extension of this concern is the way we deal with the litter in our home, our rubbish and our recycling.

When the recent new information arrived from the council re the latter, we duly stuck the sticker on our bin, as instructed.

I have always tried to do the right thing as far as the recycling is concerned, and I worry about waste generation generally. We have a compost bin in our kitchen and a larger one in the garden, into which we put all of our peelings, eggshells, fruit and veg remnants and so on.

We used to put tea bags in there, but found that their ‘skins’ didn’t break down so well and then fluttered all over the place when they escaped after we used the resulting compost in our flowerbeds.

We also have a double recycling bin system in operation, as we always find that our green bin is full to overflowing. We’ve therefore established another big one at the back door.

We also collect plastic milk carton tops and used stamps, both of which go to Kempshott residents who deal with them on behalf of good causes.

At times, taking this all seriously is no easy task, particularly when you have a kitchen as small as ours. I tried to save Tetra Paks and tinfoil in order to take them to larger recycling facilities, but it all got a bit bonkers on the restricted surface area.

And then there’s the problem of how to deal with your Other Half when they can’t seem to get to grips with what to do. I cannot tell you how many times I have opened our bin to put something in and sitting there proudly at the top is something which should be in the recycling bin or composter.

In his world, he cannot understand or remember that you can recycle plastic bottles but not plastic trays and margarine tubs.

And as for making him remove bottle tops as instructed, well it would be a minor miracle if he recalled that that was necessary on his own.

Back in our younger years, it was a hard enough task to get him to use a bin, any bin, for his rubbish, or to get him to take his dirty dishes to the sink, let alone put anything in the dishwasher.

If we get fined because of his incorrect litter disposal, he’ll be in big trouble.