Islington Green Party welcomes measures (“�110 fines for not being green”, Gazette, November 25) that improve recycling rates in the borough, especially if this means that the council wastes less money sending rubbish to landfill – but we are concerned that fining people could. in fact, “turn people off” and feel that we need to look at carrots more than sticks.

There are more jobs generated per tonne of recycled waste than per tonne of waste sent to either incineration or landfill. So improving recycling rates in Islington could help create more local jobs.

It will be interesting to see how the council plans to implement fines for residents who do not recycle. While fines may be a very last resort, surely it makes more sense to focus on implementing measures to increase compliance by making it easy for residents to recycle rather than threatening us with fines?

The cost to the council would also be hugely reduced if retailers were more responsible about the overpackaging of goods. Perhaps the council could work with local retailers to encourage a reduction in packaging so that consumers are not forced to deal with so much rubbish in the first place? – Caroline Russell, Islington Green Party, N5.