We’re to go back to having weekly bin collections it seems. That’s the plan that Michael Gove is announcing at least. This being something that Brexit gives us – the ability to tell the European Union where it gets off with its more ludicrous insistences upon recycling.
No, really, this insistence that all is recycled comes from the European Union. There are targets for the percentage of whatever that is recycled. The logic is that, well, we must just recycle more because scarce resources. This being entirely untrue of course, recycling costs more therefore it uses more resources. The legal justification though is that Holland can’t use landfill – dig a hole there you get water – so therefore it would be unfair competition if other places could use landfill. So, therefore, no one should use landfill.
Gonads to that idea of course:
Millions of homes could have their food waste bins collected weekly, if new proposals from the environment secretary are implemented in the wake of a government consultation on the UK’s waste system. Michael Gove’s proposed measures to ensure consistent recycling collections come after a number of councils cut the frequency of collections, leaving residents with overflowing bins. Free garden waste collections for households with gardens may also be introduced while councils in England will be obliged to provide weekly pickups of food waste. The policy area is devolved to national government level.
What has happened in our formerly green and pleasant land is that in order to reduce landfill councils have simply not been picking stuff up to go into landfill. That food waste can just sit and rot for a month. The rats and disease will larn ’em to waste less:
The Government has pledged to clean up the streets by scrapping monthly bin collections following complaints of rats, flies and overflowing bins. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will set out plans to rethink waste disposal and recycling in England in a bid to move back towards a weekly schedule.
Government is actually the system of organising the bin collections. We’re trying to get that public good of not having rotting food, the flies, rats and disease, floating around. Getting shot of it all has historically been both the cause and purpose of local government.
How wondrous that moving to a continental system of governance means that we’ve not been able to do what government is for, eh? Fortunately, now we’re leaving we can get it right again.
Stupid idea of course – classic central government planning. In Hampshire I had a separate food waste only caddy and that did stink if it wasn’t emptied weekly. I imagine these people are demanding action to solve this problem. Cambridgeshire however just get us to put food waste in the green bin with the garden waste. This is collected fortnightly which isn’t a problem as the contents are mixed and the bin is big enough to keep the waste in. I don’t want my council wasting money being forced by the government to introduce separately weekly food waste collections when… Read more »
If Brexit leads to a strengthing of local government, I will cheer. However, a strengthing of local government means a diversity of decision-making, and – horror of horrors – different areas making different decisions. Oh Noes! Postcode Lottery!
Is it the EU?
My town in France: two bins, one for recyclable (most stuff except glass), one for non-recyclable. Recyclable collected every Wednesday, non-recyclable collected Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri.
And loads of communal bins for people in flats or who have nowhere to store their own bins, and plenty of bins for glass.
France is in the EU.
France has a long and glorious tradition of ignoring EU rules whenever it suits them.
How the EU works:
The Germans make the rules.
The British obey the rules.
The French ignore the rules.
And the Spanish, Italians and Greeks aren’t even aware that there are any rules.