Miliband suggests ‘pay as you throw’ system

It seems we’re a bit rubbish as a nation when it comes to dealing with waste. David Miliband’s announcement yesterday could force households to look at how they view their ‘rubbish’.

The environment secretary has proposed that councils should be allowed to charge those who produce a large amount of waste. The councils will not be allowed to profit from this ‘pay as you throw’ system, instead cash rewards of up to £50 a year could be awarded to those that recycle lots.

In Britain we send more waste to landfill than any other European country and Miliband hopes measures such as this will reduce the mountain and slash carbon emissions.

News of potentially being charged by a council will no doubt be met by some with frustration, but the solution is simple - recycle then. Surely the main barrier to overcome for those who don’t already is simply habit forming.

When alternatives like waste incinerators are met with a ‘not in my back yard’ approach - and fair enough - it’s time to change bad habits, and fast.

While recycling should be common sense, the ‘recycle lots’ part is a bit worrying. The amount of packaging of stuff makes it easy to produce ‘lots’ of recycling - and that’s not good either.

Miliband did address the ‘reduce’ part of the equation but was criticised for suggesting fines on the one hand for residents, and in stark comparison, voluntary agreements for industry who produce the unnecessary and avoidable packaging.

How councils would actually go about measuring household rubbish looks like it needs a bit more thought too - weighing each households waste and calculating an end of year bill sounds a bit laborious. There are other ways suggested, such as reducing collections or providing a certain number of free rubbish sacks and then charging those who require more. Families with new babies could be given extra so they can throw away nappies for free - lets not even go there.