No rush to impose tax

Jul 3 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

YOU would normally expect town hall officials to rub their hands in glee at extra money coming in.

So it is a refreshing change to hear Kirklees Council vow it does not want to impose a bin tax – unless forced, that is.

Just now the waste we produce is a hot topic and a cause of much anger in some quarters.

Certainly, people have every right to oppose interference which goes so far as to place spy cameras in bins.

But why should anyone get worked up about efforts to get us to recycle more?

Some people do, though, and it is their stubborn refusal to take action which has led to proposals such as a bin tax.

The idea is to charge householders for each kilogram of unrecycled rubbish thrown out – thereby providing a powerful incentive to use our green bins more.

At present, rubbish collection is covered by council tax and households are not routinely charged for the amount they dump or for failing to recycle.

But such charges are well established in the EU and the United States, typically cutting waste volume by 10%.

A scheme in Italy succeeded in cutting the waste produced by each resident from 400kg a month on average to 350kg, while increasing the total recycled from 150kg to 200kg.

We are running into trouble with making changes to our system in Britain partly because of a refusal by many people to adapt to new realities and partly because many are sick of having the green message pumped at them day after day.

There is little doubt, though, we DO have to cut the astonishing amount of rubbish we dump in the ground. It is simply unsustainable to continue that way.