have you heard the news- cos i'm mad

[Tigerhair]

My council will not collect our recycled items because although they drive the collection van across the end of our drive, they will not drive down it to collect.... I recycle bottles (glass and plastic) at the local amenities, all clear plastic and cardboard goes for recycling at the factory we live behind.

[Ranter]

I'm with Martin on this - it goes beyond the issue of rubbish v recycling, this is about the state seeking to monitor every part of our lives. If councils really want to do something about waste they should be pressuring central govt to enact laws to restrict packaging.

I will continue to rant & do so with pride

[the.fee.fairy]

i agree with all of you.

I don't like the idea of my rubbish being bugged...if the chips are only to record weight at the moment, then i can see it registering everything that goes through it in a few years. 1984 here we come...

However, i do think that we need to do some work towards getting people recycling more. Yes, the supermarkets and companies are partly to blame for this because of the packaging issue. Maybe the wheelie bins are a good thing in this respect. I've noticed how much of our non-recyclable rubbish is packaging, and its shocking. Unfortunately, there are people who will not be shocked into action, those of previous generations, or those who just don't care. Hopefully, by weighing the wheelie bin the council can report back top the households in language of tonnage per year rather than 'one bin a week'.

Its difficult. how are they to cater for those more SSH and those less at the same time?

[Muddypause]

I don't like the idea of my rubbish being bugged...if the chips are only to record weight at the moment, then i can see it registering everything that goes through it in a few years.

I can't really see that, with the sort of chip that is proposed. It will not be able to monitor what you throw away, any more than the electricity meter is able to monitor what appliances you run - it's really not bugging your rubbish at all, just asigning the weight of the bin to the household it comes from. I suppose if it was combined with RFID chips on everything we buy, then it might one day happen, but as it is, I can't immediately see how it can be made to do more than identify the bin.

In fact, come to think of it, the phone company is far more invasive, because they record who you phone, and who phones you, but that doesn't seem to provoke much concern.

I am 100% against the idea of a databased ID carded society, and have posted here aboput my opposition to it, but I think this is of a different nature to that. The challenge is, you either have a general taxation for waste collection, which is going to become increasingly unfair as some of us begin to learn how to separate our waste, and not to consume so much, or we have to find some way of charging for a 'pay as you throw' system. I can see all sorts of potential for abuse and error in this proposal, so anybody care to suggest a viable alternative?

there are people who will not be shocked into action, those of previous generations

Oi!!!

[PurpleDragon]

A friend of mine went from normal taxed water, just using it willy nilly out of the tap, to a metered system. She was really worried to start with, because she thought that her family was quite a high water consumer. However, it has madde her much mroe aware of the water usage in the house, and they also pay less than previously.

On the other hand, I used to live in a cul de sac. The laddie next door lived alone, and his bin hardly ever went out because he just didn't generate the waste. His neighbours, me included, often used his bin if something happened and our bins weren't big enough. (Bank holidays, snow etc) If I had been him, and we were getting charged by weight, I'd have not been chuffed

[the.fee.fairy]

Muddy...the people on here are obviously excused!!

By older generation, i was thinking specifically of my mother, who doesn't see the need for 'all this separating the rubbish nonsense'. She still believes in ladnfill ('Everything's built on something else, my parents house was built on an old graveyard...you could do the same with landfill') and shopping in T*sc*s ('well, everything's all in one place and its easy isn't it. The fruit and veg looks fresh').

So...older generations on here (i know there are some) i apologise...i should have made the exceptions clear.

[Wombat]

Such a priviledge it must be to have a man and a truck arrive to pick up your rubbish and cart it away for you...

Bug chip or no bug chip, folks will always think twice, compost and minimise their waste when they actually have to load and cart it themselves. No-one likes carting fermenting food, and anything organic 25k's to the tip on their lovely upholstery, or in their boot. And hooking up a trailer is just another job you extend as long as is conveniently possible, because dragging that around all day is just a nuisance.

It's kinda the same as water, I think. You only really start caring about quantities when you actually have to collect and cart it.

Good point Boots, but here in suburbia, as pointed out by Baldowrie, you make it too hard and it goes to the nearest patch of open land, bush or neighbours fence. It is a fine line and I have no problem with information gathering but it seems that the councils did a very poor "sell" job on this one!

Nev