Comments (36)Posted on 03/17/2007 10:41:20 AM PDT by Stoat
Wheelie bins: £140,000 trial
Also see...
• Residents revolt against wheelie-bin spies
The Government has paid for the chips to be installed in three areas of Northern Ireland, now regularly used as a testing ground for Labour's plans for the rest of the country.
Tories warned that the chips will be used for the first tests of a tax on bins. The chips are used to weigh bins so that householders can be charged by how much rubbish they throw out.
A number of councils in England have ordered wheelie bins fitted with chips and some have put them out for use. But no rubbish tax can go ahead in England without legislation to allow councils to collect the money.
Northern Ireland, however, has been used as a proving ground for ideas as it is ruled from London and plans can be put into practice by ministerial decree.
Ministers and local council chiefs have called for a pay-asyou-throw rubbish tax, which would mean bills of £10 a week or more for a family. Town halls say they would cut council taxes if a rubbish tax were brought in.
Northern Ireland minister David Cairns confirmed that £140,000 had been given to Newtownabbey, North Down and Craigavon councils to install microchips in their bins.
All three councils run the fortnightly rubbish collection and recycling systems that have proved highly controversial in England, attracting complaints about rat infestations, health threats and fly-tipping.
Craigavon and North Down councils would not admit yesterday that they were in readiness for a pay-as-you-throw tax.
A spokesman for Craigavon said the chips could weigh bins, but there was no plan to bring in a tax. North Down said the chips were to measure the frequency with which bins were put out.
But Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said: "Northern Ireland is being used by Labour as a pilot for sinister microchips to be installed in every bin in Britain.
"Such taxes will damage the local environment by causing a surge in fly-tipping and backyard burning in local neighbourhoods.
"Combined with cuts to the frequency of collections, I fear bin taxes are dangerous and will put public health at serious risk."
He added: "No one believes that Gordon Brown would cut council taxes if top-up charges were introduced. Indeed, such a tax will cost a fortune to implement and administer, with households inevitably being left with an even bigger tax bill as a result."
The English town halls' body, the Local Government Association, called for rubbish taxes earlier this year, saying that families should pay for the amount they throw out to encourage them to reduce levels of waste.
If the Treasury were to pay for chips across the country at the same rate of subsidy as the three Northern Ireland councils have received, the extra cost to the taxpayer would be £35million.
• Householders who lose their weekly rubbish collections must endure invasion by insects and vermin, a Government report warned yesterday.
They will suffer worse living conditions and "annoyance" together with smells that may make them feel sick, it said. But ministers said the drive to cut back on rubbish collections would go on in the name of combating climate change.
Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw said: "Recycling is a vital part of our battle against climate change - the equivalent of taking three and a half million cars off our roads."
The report from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found no evidence that fortnightly rubbish collections are a danger to health, but said they led to "significant" increases in insects and vermin, and worse smells, as well as more complaints from residents.
The report said people should wash their bins regularly; "reduce moisture in waste containers"; wrap food waste; keep bins out of the sun; and put newspaper in the bottom to soak up liquid.
It's already gone beyond that point here in the People's Republic of Seattle. We are also limited to one bin and recycling is REQUIRED. If they discover that you haven't separated your recyclables and haven't placed them in the two or three other special bins you are subject to a stiff fine.
That's one of the reasons for the opposition to this plan....there is a fear that it will increase rural littering and become a severe public health threat.
We have the option of doing that as well, but I don't think it's possible, here in the People's Republic of Seattle, to completely opt out of the home trash collection fees. And taking a load of trash to the dump in Seattle is a whole lot more expensive that $5.00
It's different when it's a required, regular fee such as the way the article relates the matter in the UK. There is great concern that it will only increase illegal dumping and cause a great public health risk.
Illegal Dumping.
We also burn a lot of our trash, unless there is a burn ban in effect. If you burn it regularly and don't build too big a fire, you don't have to pull a permit. It would not be cost effective to burn, if you had to pay a $50.00 fee for a permit.
"One major question - what is "fly-tipping"?
A fun sport, where there are no cows to tip.
LOL
I assume based on context, it is what we in America would call 'dumping' - when I lived in Las Vegas years ago (we left for good in 91) the desert around town, esp out by the base, was full of old TVs, washing machines, etc that folks had to pay the dump to take - so they just drove to the edge of town and dumped it.
Not all was lost, we would take our local Cub Den ut and scavange parts from the TVs to make crystal radios.
FMCDH(BITS)
Coming soon! Complete confiscation of all property and giving you back just what you need. Now, Why did we fight the cold war against Communism?
When my family first lived in PA, we had separate garbage and trash removal. The township picked up the trash and the pig farmer picked up the garbage. I don't remember how long that lasted. I think the pig farmer was eventually forced out of business in the fifties. I was too young to remember.
I've often seen the list of the Communist plans from 1963 or whatever, and how many of them have been accomplished. I'm now going to take a look at the Declaration of Independence and see how many of those items have been UNdone.
How does soaking up liquid make the container lighter?
The writers of this trash (pun intended) are so techno-stupid that they neglect to answer the obvious questions.
How accurate are these "chips"?
If a homeowner puts out an empty bin, but has taped 4 bricks to the underside of the container, will he be charged for the "heavy air"?
Substitute Ireland ping!
My Brit in-laws are already upset about the EEU's dictates concerning child car seat and the shape of BANANAS!!! for crying out loud. So they're getting hammered from foreigners telling them how to run their lives AND their own government. It's just a matter of time before that kind of tyranny reaches our shores. In fact it's already started as most recycling is a severe waste of time and energy.
The writers of this trash (pun intended) are so techno-stupid that they neglect to answer the obvious questions.
How accurate are these "chips"?
If a homeowner puts out an empty bin, but has taped 4 bricks to the underside of the container, will he be charged for the "heavy air"?
Several of the posters shown in the Comments area of the Daily Mail article are similarly thunderstruck by the numerous elements of profound ineptitude and illogic which permeate this plan.
It seems to be nothing more than a manufactured 'problem' which was brought into being exclusively for the purpose of confiscating more hard-earned monies from our British (and Irish) Friends..
Any logistical or implementational problems made apparent during this test will undoubtedly be corrected for the 'final rollout" ( I stopped myself before I called it a "final solution".... a bit over the top, even for me) particularly if they get in the way of any billing issues.
The final trash-taxing plan will then be set in stone until the end of Time, or until our Friends Across the Pond get so fed up that they start massive rioting. Honest and hardworking people can only take so much abuse before there's a backlash.
Thank you very much for pinging the Ireland list; it's sincerely appreciated :-)
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You're welcome!
The same leftists who cry crocodile tears about "the Bush administration tearing away our sacred Constitutional freedoms" are the socialists who demand total wealth redistribution, which would result in a surveillance regime far more severe than anything in the Patriot Act.
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