New powers in war on waste

Mike Keegan and Ian Craig

October 30, 2007

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COUNCILS will be given the power to introduce pilot schemes to charge households for the amount of rubbish they throw away.

Bin searches and on-the-spot fines for those who fail to recycle will be able to be used.

But it it is not clear at this stage whether councils in Greater Manchester will be taking up the option.

Manchester city council revealed earlier this month that it was considering carrying out bin searches.

On-the-spot fines of £100 could be dished out to those found not to be recycling. Repeat offenders could face criminal prosecutions and be hit with £1,000 penalties.

The proposals come after the city was criticised for increasing recycling by only one per cent in the past year, the third worst rate in Greater Manchester

Out of the nine other authorities, only one said it was considering similar action.

Bolton, Wigan, Tameside, Oldham and Stockport said they had no plans to impose fines and a spokesman for Salford council said its focus was to `work with residents'.

Rochdale council said they would consider fines `but only as a last resort'.

Bury and Trafford councils were unavailable for comment.

However, it would appear that unless there is a dramatic rise in recycling rates, they may have no choice.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee has warned that unless there is a significant increase in recycling, taxpayers face EU fines of £180m a year.

Britain has traditionally got rid of rubbish in landfill sites, but in 1999 the EU set targets to slash the amount of biodegradable waste sent totips, where it poses a health hazard.

The chairman of the accounts committee, Tory MP Edward Leigh, said: "If Britain misses these targets, taxpayers will have to stump up the money to pay a huge fine to the European Commission.

"The government must now take the tough decisions and practical steps needed to promote large-scale recycling.

"It will involve giving members of the public clear guidance on what they can and cannot put into their recycling bins."

Mr Leigh said waste treatment centres would be key to cutting the country's reliance on land-based tips.

He said: "The alternative is a never-ending search for more holes in which to bury our rubbish mountain."

Brussels took action in 1999 because biodegradable materials such as food, vegetation and paper generate methane to the soil and water which can be harmful.

The duty to cut the amount of food, vegetation and paper going to landfill falls on the 388 local authorities in England.

Bu the accounts committee said: "There has been little collaboration between local authorities and only six of the 25 largest waste disposal authorities were confident of meeting the 2010 target."

Liberal Democrat Coun John Cameron, from the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, said: "Most people are very keen and willing to recycle, but the city council must make this easier."

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AH, Manchester (30/10/2007 at 12:02)

i hope companies who use unnecesary packaging are being fined by the councils as well.

Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (30/10/2007 at 12:06)

"COUNCILS will be given the power to introduce pilot schemes to charge households for the amount of rubbish they throw away. "

and people will simply fly tip, dump in other peoples bins, and burn it them selves.

ian, Oldham (30/10/2007 at 12:06)

We pay enough council tax and watse disposal is meant to be part of the service we pay for, extra charges on top are pathetic!

soon we will have to pay to drive into manchester, so whats next and where does it stop!!!

ace, manchester (30/10/2007 at 12:25)

MCC needs to get its act toghether before they start to get tough with its residents.We have been recycling for years until a few weeks ago,we refuse to keep having our recycle bin used for other peoples rubbish?by the collectors who use our bin to put other peoples rubbish in while they collect .My wife then has to rewash our bin every time they use it. We have now refused to recycle until we get a promise that MCC will stop using residents bins to collect others rubbish in? until then im afraid we are refusing to put our recycle bin out...MCC Have not done their part of the deal...

alvinlwh (30/10/2007 at 12:27)

It is all part of the great EU con and the stupid government sign up for it. UK should never had signed up for the EU, which had never done UK any good at all. Time for the UK to leave the EU, why should our council tax, paid for our council, be taken away by the EU? We are not paying a "Europe Tax" here are we?

newtond50, manchester (30/10/2007 at 12:50)

So Manchester is going to have the Rubbish Police now. Brilliant.

Blip, Manchester (30/10/2007 at 13:07)

What a completely barmpot idea. I should think the idea of rummaging through bins will only appeal to councils at the western end of the M62. Calm down, calm down, only joking!

polkyb (30/10/2007 at 13:08)

Meanwhile, in Middleton (under Rochdale) I have only one bin for all my waste.

I make the effort to take paper, bottles, etc. to tesco/sainsbury's/Asda when I go shopping, but, until I get a recycling bin, like the residents of Bury, I'm afraid all my rubbish will be going in the one bin.

better off red (30/10/2007 at 13:20)

simple.
charge companies for producing goods in extra packaging.
when I was young, we never recycled, instead we sent back our empties, all sweets were in paper wrappers and not plastic.
it's time the companies were made to pay for their own actions, and not the people.

Mike S, Manchester (30/10/2007 at 13:32)

As per my comment on the similar story earlier, between £150-£200 of your council tax bill is for refuse collection and disposal.

I would only agree to this if my council tax bill comes down by this amount. I refuse to pay twice for the same service.

mylifeinthemafia (30/10/2007 at 13:35)

And what about local authority waste? Can we give them on the spot fines?

Trudy, Bolton (30/10/2007 at 13:39)

Councils need to offer more solutions first and then look at penalties! More public recycling centres, paper, glass, plastics, clothing, shoes. We also need to reduce packaging - this is something we as a consumer can't control apart from stripping it off at the point of sale - shops won't like that.

hotplate, stockport (30/10/2007 at 13:41)

Will the council tax bill be reduced? I think not!!!!!

Compo, Wythenshawe (30/10/2007 at 14:02)

In this day of recycle and more recycle why can’t we put uncooked green kitchen waste i.e. potato peel, green cabbage and cauliflower leaves, carrot peel etc in our green garden recycle bin. A gardener can put it on a compost pile but this daft lot tell us that it might have been in contact with meat and can’t be used (all food stuff will rot down and compost) so why can’t we recycle it, so that means more weight in the bin for the landfill and more methane given off.

Octavius Tinsworth Ace (30/10/2007 at 14:04)

It's not just Manchester that's planning to introduce this; it's on the agenda of many councils right across the country.

Unfortunately, it's another example of negative incentives. Instead of offering a positive incentive to recycle -- e.g. a rebate on your council tax -- councils are to penalize for not recycling. It's a similar situation with transport: instead of improving public transport so that it becomes an attractive and cost-efficient means of getting around, the government wants to make car travel so prohibitively expensive that it forces people to use poor-value, dirty and unsafe public transport. (I stop well short of blaming the current government or the Labour party in general because the previous Conservative administration was equally guilty of such negligence; in fact one could argue that privatization of so many national services under Thatcher sowed the seeds of this problem in the first place.)

Anthony, Accrington,Lancs (30/10/2007 at 14:21)

People will just flytip and burn their rubbish if councils are going to charge people

ralph milne was betta than ronaldo!! (30/10/2007 at 14:31)

garden fires will increase 10 fold once this comes in and people will be demanding a council tax rebate for the reductions in waste collection as aresult of it.

jomov, Manchester (30/10/2007 at 14:35)

Living in a block of flats, we share a small bin area (a wooden enclosure) which fits 12 wheelie bins (1 bin per flat) At the moment there are only 6 bins, half the amount there should be as local kids have nicked the rest..

There is no way of stopping anyone from putting their rubbish in someone else's bin.

To put this scheme into place the Council would have to come up with solutions to problems like these!!

Chris, Irlam (30/10/2007 at 14:44)

jomov, good jod you don't live in Salford then as you would have 4 bins each to fit into you storage area! Imagine that!

Dave Pickup (30/10/2007 at 14:52)

Suggestion for reducing waste. Have 100 MPs instead of 650!

Blip, Manchester (30/10/2007 at 15:34)

Octavius, The Labour party have had 10 years to sort out anything that Margaret Thatcher's administration did back in the last century. How long do you think these idealistic idiots need? 20 years? 50 years? You can't blame everything on Thatcher.

Mike, Manchester (30/10/2007 at 16:07)

It's also worth remembering that when you take your waste to a recycling point, it gets sold on to 3rd party processors. So the local authority saves money by landfilling less PLUS they get paid for the waste and no doubt the buyer comes to collect it too.

JA0005 (30/10/2007 at 16:23)

Blip (should that be Blimp?, think the poster you were referring to said that Thatcher must take SOME blame, not all, and I agree. She is responsible for destroying any public service in the name of profit, to the point where the only thing that matters is the bottom line.

Snare Drum, Ashton-under-Lyne (30/10/2007 at 17:49)

Pay to tip, Pay each trip!!! Where the hell does this loony prats think we're going to find the monies to pay for their mad ideas.
As for Mrs Thatcher, at least she got this country out of debt without going stupid on taxation. What has labour done? oh yes, got us back in debt by mega amounts and sold off our gold reserves and given us more new taxes than any other government in history.

little star, Cheshire (30/10/2007 at 18:34)

Bin searches and on the spot fines - just another name for dictatorship and taxation. It is scary to think that more powers may be given to the self important lefties (aka councils). Rubbish charges & road charges will not be forgotten next time we vote.

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