By Asavin Wattanajantra, 28 August 2007 16:06
NEWS
Plans to introduce high-tech wheelie bins so that householders can be charged for the amount of garbage they produce have been trashed by silicon.com readers.
The proposals were put forward by the Local Government Association as a way for councils to run waste charging schemes if the government gives them the go-ahead.
But silicon.com readers have warned the pay-per-bin may have some unpleasant side-effects.
"Whenever local government has tried waste disposal charging, fly tipping goes up," said reader Mark Hosey. He added: "We are not responsible for the majority of waste that ends up in our bins. It's manufacturers and retailers that make rubbish, not individuals."
Another anonymous reader added: "People will just dump their waste anywhere then, to save paying for it. The councils might save on collection but it will cost more in effort and the health implications to clean up after the fly tipping."
And if they aren't fly-tipping, chip and bin evaders might be loading up their next door neighbour's bin instead. "Will we have to lock our wheelie bins?" asked reader Alan Smith, wondering whether householders will be forced to protect their bins to prevent people dumping their rubbish in them to save on garbage fees.
Meanwhile IT consultant John Wilson pointed out the government might be going after the wrong target: "It's about time the authorities stopped picking on the easy targets (the public) and got serious about the big polluters (industry). Better to deal with the problems at source, rather than only persecute the end user."
Comments
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1. BillK
Obviously the evil public will bypass the system by fly-tipping or dumping their rubbish in neighbour's bins or skips.
A more subtle point is why should anyone bother recycling plastic? It weighs almost nothing, so just put it in your general rubbish to save time.
2. Bob Nicholas
Instead of hitting the consumer lets start with the retailers. Lets have some legislation to cut down on packaging. Why does that piece of chicken that I buy have to be mounted in a plastic tray which is then wrappen in some form of cling film. The whole assembly is then slid into a pretty cardboard sleeve. The only part that is recyclable, according to my local council is the cardboard sleeve. Food containers such as the plastic tray have to go into the general waste. The retailers/wholesalers have to start taking responsibility for the huge waste problem facing us.
3. anonymous
The post office deliver unaddressed junk mail which goes straight in the bin. How can we stop this? Why should we pay to dispose of unwanted, unaddressed mail?
4. anonymous
It's just another tax, one which will be expensive and inefficient to collect. Sure it will lead to more fly tipping, dirtier streets, conflicts with neighbours, but government doesn't care about that as it will raise yet more in taxes.
As for packaging being the problem, an awful lot of that is down to customers buying convenience foods. More is down to legislation (good old Health and Safety do get a hand in). Selling fruit and vegetables has to be priced with a price/kg, but this can be skirted round by putting in a plastic bag so its sold as a unit (often at a higher price). It's consumers wanting the convenience, but if it still had to be sold by unit weight probably much would disappear as no longer able to hide the cost in the pack. Same reason chicken has the cardboard wraps, its cheaper if sold by unit weight so not as profitable.