MANY'S the time, when I am lugging my wheelie bin, weighing a ton, to the kerb, that I ponder on how the frail or elderly cope with the task, particularly if they have steps to negotiate in the process.

But I wonder, too, how many householders in East Lancashire actually called for the adoption of this system -- above all, when, at a stroke, it turned them into do-it-yourself refuse disposal operators, doing half of the work that the binmen used to do all of themselves.

Of course, we know who do love wheelie bins -- the councils. They are much cheaper and less labour-intensive in their view than the traditional bins which the binmen used to collect from back yards and gardens, empty and then return and a sight less messy than the easily-torn plastic bin bags which, with the demise of the old bins, folk were also expected to cart to the kerb.

But why should the council dictate to people what they should have? It's bad enough that -- under the pious guise of increased recycling of domestic refuse in order to save the town halls taxes on tipping -- many East Lancashire homes now only have fortnightly collections of much of their waste and have to endure inconvenience and hygiene hazards that never occurred with the old weekly collections.

A family of four can fill a wheelie bin in no time -- even if they comply with the advice to sort and crush their rubbish. And why on earth should they have to put up with the nuisance of overflow, smells and maggots when they are paying council tax for what now amounts to a reduced service?

Yet, who heeds the people's preferences? Certainly not the Bins Gestapo who rule the system at Hyndburn. Now householders there are being threatened with fines of up to £1,000 if they insist on sticking with black bin bags instead of using the wheelie bins they have been issued with as part of the council's recycling drive.

But is this a bolshie minority of stick-in-the-muds who don't like change? Hardly. In one area, by the council's own admission, a thumping 70 per cent of homes are eschewing wheelie bins.

The council's response has been to send out warning letters and to threaten fines if they are ignored.

But, hey, where's the fairness in this? If seven out of then folk say they don't want wheelie bins, isn't it the council's job to bow to the public will?

Democracy? It's been chucked in the wheelie bins no-one asked for and few want... You vill use der vheelie binz!