Should we pay for our trash?

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a think tank, has called for the government to introduce a 'pay as you throw system' in Britain to encourage people to recycle as much of their waste as possible. The IPPR's figures show that Britain recycled or composted only 18% of its waste in 2003-04, well below the European Union's target of 55%-80% and actually the third worst rate in the pre-expansion EU. The only countries which recycle less are the perpetual environment offenders Greece (8%) and Portugal (3%), and surely Britain should be doing its best to reach the standards of pace setters such as Germany (58%), Austria (59%) and the Netherlands (65%). It is certainly an embarrassment that Ireland manages to recycle almost twice as much of its rubbish as we do.

What the IPPR proposes is some kind of system by which households should be charged by their local councils for the amount of non-recyclable rubbish they leave outside their front door to be collected each week. By hitting the public in the pocket for their wastefulness it is hoped that the average person will be encouraged to recycle more or simply produce less waste. Councils claim that this is a necessary and logical measure as they get fined anyway for not meeting EU targets and these charges would be passed down to the public in an increased level of council tax. So, they argue, it is better for those who produce more waste to pick up the cost, rather than spreading the charge over everyone in an area. This certainly seems a sensible approach. While in a perfect world everyone would want to protect the environment, it is clear that despite most local councils making it incredibly easy to recycle as much waste as possible, the majority of people don't want to or just can't be bothered. While charging them for their waste may not be the ideal solution, it appears to be the best one on offer.

Three local councils have, in fact, already begun to explore this possibility. They have initiated 'bugged bins' schemes, whereby microchips have been installed in rubbish bins at various locations. They carry information about which address the bin is located at and record the weight of the rubbish in it as measured by the collection trucks when the trash is collected. If these projects prove workable then more areas are expected to adopt the system and pilot schemes should be rolled out around the country in the next 12 months, with the hope that within two years bins all over Britain could be microchipped.

The concept of a household paying for its own waste is bound to be controversial and will no doubt face a lot of opposition. Recycling is, however, a massively important issue and is an area in which Britain has performed remarkably poorly so far. While one would hope that people would choose to recycle out of the goodness of their hearts and to protect our environment, it seems that more extreme systems of incentives, and indeed punishments, are needed.