EXPECT to hear more from local authorities who find themselves with a growing re-cycling problem now that the economic slump has led to a collapse in the price for metals, plastic and paper.

The bad news is that all that stuff sorted diligently in to different coloured bins is probably mounting up somewhere with nowhere to go because nobody wants to buy this material any more.

The good news, maybe, is that the market has presumably also disappeared for the anti-social types who have caused mayhem by stealing lead from churches, grids from roads and commemorative plaques from public buildings and war memorials.

If we look hard, we can always find a silver lining somewhere.