Mrs Griffiths had a recipe for waste

‘Only tins remained, which were hammered flat with a stone and collected by the council once a year.’ Photograph: capt.digby/Alamy

Re your article on trying to reduce consumption and waste (The long read, 28 November), I recall our family holiday in Aberporth, Wales, in 1961, when I was 15. We stayed with Mrs Griffiths, whose waste was mostly either composted or burned on her kitchen stove. Only tins remained, which were hammered flat with a stone and collected by the council once a year. She was ahead of her time. Bravo!
Roger Forshaw
Romsey, Hampshire

• Thank you for the columns celebrating what Shane MacGowan gave us, including that by Alexis Petridis (Shane MacGowan: the poet-musician of dereliction who became a mythic figure, 30 November). Perhaps Westminster city council will agree to another bench in Soho Square a few metres from Kirsty MacColl’s. They could bicker for eternity while the pigeons shiver in the naked trees.
John Clarke
West Stratton, Hampshire