When I picked up my Bourne Local newspaper last Friday, I was surprised to see they splashed on 'news' that the Government had binned plans to allow local councils to charge residents to 'pay to throw'.As I reported at the time, the Government responded to the rumour mill by making it clear that 'pay to throw' was in fact still being actively considered - but no mention of this in the Local's story which seems rather curious.
Now, three days on, Environment Minister Hilary Benn has announced that the draft Climate Change Bill will indeed give power to local councils to provide financial incentives for recycling.
Under the proposals, the financial incentives will be revenue-neutral and are expected to help save between two million and six million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through landfill emissions in 2020.
Last week South Kesteven District Council told the Local they had no plans to introduce charges.
Now it has been confirmed that 'pay to throw' is in the draft legislation - which could become law by next Spring - the Conservative Party nationally has slammed the idea.
I wonder whether Conservative controlled SKDC will become one of the first councils in the country to adopt it - assuming of course that the proposals announced today survive scrutiny by Parliament and become law.
Watch this space...
3 comments:
The problem with Pay per Throw is that the mother with nappies subsidises the second homeowner.
It also leads to fine old neighbour disputes.
And gives the anti-social minority a reason to "justify" flytipping.
I'm not sure you understand the proposals, Phil.
If it's revenue neutral, unless the incentives are glory or certificates or something, then the charging has to cover the incentives doesn't it?
Fortunately, it is easy to remove the Rfid bugs which are used for working out how much you have to pay.
brynley:
some might think that removing the bugs in the bins are as anti-social as fly-tipping.
i don't pretend to understand the detail of the draft legislation - like most of us, i've only seen the headlines today.
no system is perfect, but do you not agree that as a nation we have to do something drastic to up our recycling performance.
maybe pay to throw is worth trying as part of the answer...
the incentive might just be each of us doing our bit to save our planet...?
Pay to throw, what a good idea for SKDC it will give them the oppertunity to employ even more 'officers' with a fancy title to administer it, IAN
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