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.
Please be sure to look at the Comments area for this Daily Mail story. Many of them are just priceless, and most people seem so angry they appear nearly apoplectic.
Watch the American Left point to this plan as a 'necessary environmental reform' that they will want to implement here.
I think I would be more concerned about the volume of trash and not the weight.
It then should follow that it is now a serious crime to dump trash into someone else's trashbin. Could you imagine neighbors sneaking off to the end of the block to dump some extra trash into their neighbor's cans?
This is getting retarded folks.
According to the readers' comments at the Daily Mail site, this is already happening
Or you could just bribe the garbage man.
Damn, things in the UK just get screwier and screwier.
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From the article:
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."
As for the latter, I would only tip them if they gave exceptional service.
Funny how there is "English" and "English".
I'm guessing that part of the reason for going with microchips is to preclude and circumvent any losses to traditional forms of graft.
The Government wants ALL of the graft dollars, not just a portion.
Surgically-implanted GPS transponders tracked by satellite will be next, so that people who walk more will be taxed more to defray the costs of sidewalk wear and maintenance.
I'd love to see that happen here just so EVERYONE could disable their chips in protest and show what we think of all this intrusion...
Stun guns do a marvelous job of killing chips with their 50,000+ volts...
Although pricier you could manufacture a high powered RF device to kill the chips...
or somehow reprogram the chips to show only xx lbs. of garbage no matter what is actually in the can ,,,, heck ! I'd manufacture and sell said chips...
eBay has a thriving UK site full of people eager to save money :-)
As for the latter, I would only tip them if they gave exceptional service.
Funny how there is "English" and "English".
hehe! What is the phrase? "A culture separated by a common language" :-)
We don't have trash pick up, we take our trash to the dump, do our own recycling at the same place and the weigh the car going in and coming out. They pay us for our recycling of aluminum cans and we pay for the difference in weight of the vehicle entering and leaving the dump, with a minimus charge of $5.00 per trip. It just makes sense to pay by the weight.
But what the heck is fly tipping? This is the second article I have see with this term. Me I would put the trash in the bin at work.
That's stupid. People will do what they do around here - take the trash to the local store dumpster or just toss it out in the wilderness.
You're quite welcome and I'm delighted that you find the article worthwhile. :-0
I'm glad to see that stupid local government is not limited to Jolly Old England.
Socialist and "Big Brother" intrusiveness is often seen first in the UK before the American Left tries to force it down our throats over here.
England and the USofA - two countries separated by a common language.
That was the phrase I was searching for, thank you. :-)
My neighbors do that to me all the time ... even though there is an overflow bin provided for that purpose.
Why? The overflow bin is farther for them to walk than my trash can.
One major question - what is "fly-tipping"?
Similar thing is happening in my town in New Hampshire.
Starting in July, each household will be allowed only one trashcan. Everything you want collected must fit into that one trashcan.
If you absolutely need another one, you have to pay $75 for it.
Meanwhile, my town taxes will still be going up for "services."
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