DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

A BARMY plan to charge householders £1 for each bin bag collected by dustmen was revealed yesterday.

The scheme was hatched by Downing Street ideas people charged with “thinking the unthinkable”.

But it was immediately condemned as rubbish by critics. They said the charges would come on top of council tax, meaning householders would be paying TWICE for the same service.

The bin plan was disclosed the day after it was revealed that mail chiefs plan to charge £14 a month for deliveries made before 9am. Each home would be given a two-bag “allowance”. But there would be a £1 levy for every extra one left out for collection.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith led a chorus of protest last night. He said: “We should not have to pay twice just because the Government has not got a clue how to reform public services.

“Millions of families are being asked to pay twice over for health, education, transport, rubbish collection and post.”

He added: “Labour has driven up tax but services are getting worse and worse.”

Last night it was unclear how bag size would be defined — or how much would be charged for, say, a large wheelie bin.

There was added confusion over how the scheme could work. Rubbish could be identified by personal STICKERS on bags — or could be WEIGHED by dustmen.

The plan came from Downing Street’s Performance and Innovation Unit, which puts up ideas for Government consideration. It is aimed at encouraging recycling and cutting the number of landfill sites in Britain. Environmental group Friends of the Earth welcomed it as “the sort of radical action needed to deal with our waste crisis”.

But critics insist the scheme would be a fly tippers’ charter. It is due to be part of a report on waste disposal that will be presented to No10 in the autumn. Last night Tony Blair’s spokesman said it would not necessarily end up as Government policy.

He added: “While there are those who argue this may be one route to go down, equally we are aware there are considerable problems associated with it.”



They are really taking the pi$$ now [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

ChrisB

Expect half the street to be up all night, secretly dumping their rubbish bags in next doors pile to avoid paying

ChrisB

More like Nutters and Muppets Unit

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

We have a wheely bin . . . no Wheeeeely How are they going to charge for those ? I regulally fill mine with stones, bricks and general heavy cr@p

David Lock

Put it in a bag and address it to Rubbish Dept,FREEPOST, Local Authority etc and drop it off at the Post Office. That should soon put an end to it!

Luke

Take it all to France!! and use their dustbins.

druddle

When in Oz 18 months ago i was interested to see how they do it (Perth, WA).

They have 2 bins, green for rubbish and yellow for recycling. That way they recycle over 1/2 of their rubbish.

Its not really rocket science is it. Invest in more recycling facilities and the problem is made easier. I for one take my bottles, papers, etc to a recycling bin 1/4 mile away from my house but the majority cant be bothered.

Dave

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

The scheme is unworkable IMHO. Dustmen weighing bags and accurately logging the amount of rubbish that they can attribute to each address every week? Come on.

Each and every phone call to the council to complain about overcharging will cost more than £1 to process anyway. There are plenty of people who have nothing better to do that will make a crusade out of being overcharged.

In the meantime, who wants to help me set up a company making really big rubbish bags?

A.

JoanUK300

Does it also mean that the Council Tax will now be reduced by the amount of bags we use???

No. didn`t think so

Joan.

Luke

Recycle ............. So why do they just take it away and dump it??? Wine bottlres etc ,they ask you to sort them out..Why when they pick them up they tip it all into the same skip!!
Its a Political show piece and a scam

But I do agree that we produce too much waste.

timbo2000

Don't we ALREADY pay for this in our Council Tax!?!

I agree that we should be more conciencious of how we dipose of our waste but isn't this another case of rip-off Britain!

As we've seen from the old Private v Public transport debate, you need a workable and convenient alternative before people will change!

Now where did I leave my soapbox...

Hanslow

Made me laugh that the environmentalists approve of it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for recycling, but, to get to my recycling place, with all the stuff we could recycle, I'd need to go in the car....err...hang on, isn't that polluting the environment and causing more traffic?

Or maybe I should just wait for the bus with 3 or 4 boxes of paper, bottles, cardboard, etc.

[cynical mode on] but then travelling in the car, means more pollution which means more petrol required, which means more tax on petrol, etc. [cynical mode off]

Bleedin government [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

My local supermarkets have recycling bins. I just store all my cans, bottles and newspapers in a big box until I next need to go shopping, then pile the whole lot into the car before I go. Hence, no extra trips required.

Recently, though, I've been using the on-line home delivery services, so this isn't working so well. It would be good if the supermarkets' delivery services would collect recycling to take back to the store, or even if (as already happens in some areas), the council provided a 'green' bin for such things.

What annoys me is when binmen refuse to take particular items, like garden rubbish for example. I have no room for a compost bin, or any need whatsoever for compost anyway, so what do I have to do? Make a special trip to the tip instead. A while ago the Government announced that they wanted people to stop making 'unnecessary' journeys by car, and this is about the only example of such a journey that I can think of.

Andy.

MrDBM

i agree with hanslow's point re the environmental people... another point to consider is ; how many more huge unofficial rubbish dumps will appear if this goes through??? zillions.

and the signs at the side of the road 'please take your rubbish home with you' - yeah righty.