I AM amazed at how many rubber bands are discarded in the streets by postmen.

A Dutch friend, who happens to be a postman, told us that in Holland, before a postman leaves the sorting office each one is given an amount of rubber bands to put round the bundles of letters and has to return them to the sorting office after his final delivery.

If the full amount is not returned, the postman has to meet the cost of each lost band out of his wage.

With all the talk of recycling, why can't our postal services follow the Dutch example?

H HAMER, Lowther Place, Blackburn.