WITH spring, a long-awaited freshness and beauty is emerging from the countryside that lifts the spirits. But among the daffodils and newly greening hedgerows are acres of rubbish, the sight of which breaks my heart.

We might be tempted to blame the council for not clearing up the mess more promptly. The cost for the clean-up when it comes accrues to all of us whether we foul the landscape or not and this is unfair.

But I’d gladly donate my council tax earmarked for this cost towards an effective campaign that raises awareness of the criminal nature of this ugly spectacle.

Let’s face it, we’re all responsible. Surely we need to realise that the place for rubbish is a landfill site or recycling facility and not the general landscape. Our beautiful countryside belongs to society and enriches every individual.

We all need to elevate the rubbishing of our landscape to the level of drink driving, or yobbish behaviour. It is antisocial, an act of vandalism on a par with graffiti on a work of art or on a gravestone.

It is desecration of the purity of nature and is unacceptable. Please join me in making it so in the minds of everyone.

ALEX FORNAL Lower Maescoed