COUNCILLORS will decide today whether to scrap kerbside glass collections in Kirklees.

I’m going to miss those green boxes if they go.

For the last few years it’s been a ritual for all of us across Huddersfield, lugging our bottles out once a month, looking down and thinking: “Did I really drink all that wine in the last four weeks? That’s not good … ah well, not to worry. I’ll try to drink less next month.”

For the nosey among us, the monthly glass collection also provides the opportunity to discover which of our neighbours are alcoholics – and what their chosen tipple is.

But monitoring our own drinking habits, and those of our neighbours, is about to become a lot harder.

The council’s Labour Cabinet is likely to decide this afternoon to end kerbside glass collections to save half a million pounds.

A cut, yet another one, which Kirklees insists is being forced on it by central government.

Getting rid of glass collections is regrettable, though it’s not as serious as reducing home care, closing a library or running down a children’s centre.

Still, it’s a short-sighted budget slash which will surely lead to less recycling and more landfill.

The beauty of kerbside glass collection is its convenience.

Only the epically lazy drinker would refuse to do something as simple as putting their bottles in a box and then putting that box on the street once a month.

But once that green box goes, the calculation changes.

Do you take the time to collect your bottles, load them into your car, drive to the bottle bank and then deposit each bottle by colour?

Or do you just think: “Sod it, grey bin for you”?

Given that many of us will make this box or bin decision in a state of less than total sobriety, I would think the answer is obvious.