With one of the worst records of recycling in the EU, local councils are to record the amounts of rubbish thrown out by UK households with new in-bin-bugs.
Three local councils are to try out the new microchip technology, which holds information on the owners of the bugged bins. When collected, the bins will be weighed with the council fining offenders who throw out more than their fair share of garbage.
The ‘pay as you throw’ scheme was devised by government think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which found that the UK recycled or composted only 18 percent of its waste in 2003-04.
According to the IPPR, the UK has the third worse recycling rates in Europe, with only Greece and Portugal fairing worse.
IPPR director Nick Pearce said: “The government should give local authorities powers to charge for collecting non-recyclable waste,” but added that rubbish collection would have to be removed from the council tax for the new system to be fair.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said weighing schemes would become commonplace if the imminent trials proved successful and were endorsed by government.
Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA’s environment board, said that charging to collect non-recyclable rubbish would give people “a real carrot to recycle”.
Not surprisingly, the announcement of the initiative coincides with news that local councils are to be fined up to £150 per tonne for excessive rubbish that fails to meet targets under the EU landfill directive.