Households face waste costs

[Jason]

Households face higher council charges if they recycle less than their green neighbours, under government "pay-as-you-throw" plans unveiled on Thursday.

Wheelie bins fitted with electronic sensors would weigh the amount of non-recyclable waste thrown away and families would be charged accordingly.

Households that beat recycling targets would get money back from the council, while those that create lots of rubbish would pay higher charges.

"The aim of the scheme would be to reward those who take steps to recycle and minimise their waste, and incentives those who do not," the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a public consultation paper.

Environment Secretary David Miliband said cutting waste and landfill would help tackle climate change. He wants 40 percent of all household rubbish to be recycled within three years.

"We need to not only recycle and reuse waste, but also prevent it in the first place," he said at the launch of a government drive to cut waste.

Under the plans, councils would have to offer people the chance to recycle at least five types of refuse, such as paper, glass, cans, food and plastic.

Councils would then count the number of black sacks used by households for non-recyclable rubbish or weigh their bins. They would have to return any money raised to greener residents.

Conservative Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth accused the government of "bullying" families and councils.

"It is clear that the government's current approach to waste is failing," he said. "This is because the government persists in bullying councils, communities and families instead of making it easier for them to go green."

Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the Local Government Association, said the scheme should only go ahead with the public's support.

"It is vital that any council ... first guarantees that there will be no overall increase in council tax, it has public support and that tough measures are in place to prevent flytipping," he said.

Britain is near the bottom of Europe's recycling league, with only Greece and Portugal recycling less, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Green Alliance.

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How the hell are they going to measure the waste from my house when we don't have wheelie bins and the trucks cannot get down the back street.
I have already mentioned this on the "Wheelie bins needed" thread.The morons just have no idea about housing/communities and highways around here.

Councils would then count the number of black sacks used by households for non-recyclable rubbish or weigh their bins.

Rubbish,excuse the pun..... .....this will lead to more fly-tipping around here because we don't have any recycling boxes to put our bottles,paper etc into.
Can you imagine the dustbin men weighing the bins?.......i don't think so!!!

[andrea]

If you are expected to recycle,then you should be provided with the correct boxes and regular collections.Not everyone has their own transport and it is not easy to lug your bottles to the bottle bank

[mrjones]

what about babys nappys.go back to the washable ones .didnt do me any harm with my kids.could not afford throw aways.

[yogi bear]

theres no way ill be useing terry nappies,i find them to hard to use,,

[poppy]

I am with you mrjones. I think most of the landfill is disposable nappies. They do special easy fit terry nappies now, no more wrapping and pinning, and you get a special service that takes away used ones and delivers clean ones all sterilized ready for use.
We are an Island and if we don't want to end up like Naples, where there is no more space for land fill and the rubbish is just left piling up in the street because there just is nowhere to take it, we have to do something.
We have all become part of a throw away society. Badger the council to get it right, they have an obligation to make this easier for folk to do, not more difficult.

[angie 50plus 2]

the trouble with terry nappies they are not very absorbant i had a 10 year gap with my sons the oldest had terrys thr youngest disposable he never had a nappy rash

[yogi bear]

my kids never had nappie rash with disposables...