RUBBISH

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There is a problem of cost
If we are to be charged for collection of our waste in a manner proportional to the waste we generate, it is necessary to weigh the waste that is collected. This means that every waste bin and bin bag left out for the refuse collectors must be weighed. To do so means that all refuse collections are going to take considerably longer due to both the weighing itself and the logging of weight collected. This will probably mean that refuse collections become less frequent, as the refuse crews take longer to do their rounds, or more refuse collection teams are needed which increases the costs of waste collection. Even if the amount of waste collected reduces, due to good recycling by the consumer, everything still needs to be weighed and logged so there is going to be some increase in cost no matter how successful the scheme is.

There is the problem of apportioning charges
To charge individuals for the waste that they produce requires some means of relating that waste to an individual. Whilst many areas use dustbins that have house numbers painted on them; areas with bin bag only collections remain completely anonymous. To overcome this requires that the local authorities provide dustbins in all cases and that they are identified as belonging to a particular residency; more cost again.

There is the problem of trust
Most refuse collections occur invisibly, that is no one really notices when the dustbin is emptied - one puts out the dustbin in the morning (or the evening before) and, sometime later, the dustbin is empty. As no one actually sees the departure of rubbish, is anyone going to believe the note pushed through the door saying, "Your waste weighed 25Kg and you will be charged £25"? The problem already exists with regard to traffic wardens and parking offences but they are covered by particular laws which, generally, accept that those officers tasked with the issuing of penalty notices are trustworthy and honest people. Are we about to say that refuse collectors are now going to be elevated to the same level of trust as a police officer or a traffic warden?

There is the problem of determining guilt
Even if you've been the best recycler in the world and have put your feather-weight dustbin out for collection, there is nothing to stop someone, who doesn't want to pay for their own waste, dumping it in your bin. Now it's patently obvious that you shouldn't have to pay for someone else's rubbish dumped in your bin, but, how are you going to convince anyone in authority that your waste was actually lighter than what the collectors weighed and, "Honest guv, I kid you not", that someone must have sneaked something heavy in there after you put the bin out? You are not going to be able to convince anyone of this, even if it is true, because there is unlikely to be any acceptable evidence to support your assertion. The only way to overcome that problem is to keep our bins locked up in our houses and have them taken away by handing them over to the collectors when they knock on the door. So now we'll need refuse collections that are timed to fit in to when we are available to hand our rubbish over ! Likely?

There is the problem of acceptance
Whether it is right to pay for the waste we generate or not, no one wants to hand over money when there's an alternative that doesn't cost as much. What this means is that some people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying for the waste they generate ...

* Why put it in the dustbin when it can be buried in the back garden?

* Why bury it in the back garden when it can just be dumped there?

* Why not just collect it and have a bonfire?

* Why dump it in the back garden when it can be dumped in someone else's bin ?

* Why not dump it on the side of the road and let someone else deal with it?

* Why not go to a bottle recycling bank and stuff everything in there?

The big problem is that there is nothing to stop people doing this unless even more stringent laws are passed about what people can and can't do.

There is the problem of non-payment
What happens if someone can't or won't pay to have their refuse collected? Is it going to be left to pile up on the side of the road and become a health hazard to everyone else? Although there are laws in place that can force residents to perform certain tasks, regardless of the cost involved, are we going to start enforcing payment for the collection of rubbish? Would such a law insist that all waste was disposed of properly, through collection, and outlaw personal disposal by way of burial or burning in one own's garden? And if we should have to endure such a stringent law, how many people are going to end up fined and, one presumes, eventually imprisoned, simply because they cannot afford to have their refuse collected and are too honourable to dispose of it through some other, illegal, means?

For 12 years, Sandra Pote and Malcolm Dodd had brushed leaves from the council-owned tree outside their home into the kerb for collection. But this year a roadsweeper who found Mrs Pote sweeping up told her she was breaking the law. The large tree outside the couple's home in Windsor Road, Torquay, drops thousands of leaves on their driveway every autumn. It is the responsibility of Torbay Council which maintains both the road and the trees on it but, the couple were told, if the leaves fall on householders' property, it is their responsibility to clean them up.

Mr Dodd said, "The tree was pruned five or six years ago and now it's massive. At this time of year our driveway gets covered in its leaves. My wife heard the council worker coming down the road in a litter cleaner and so she brushed the leaves in to a pile in the gutter. The man told her he could not take them away and that she was littering. I heard it going on and went out and he told me we were fly-tipping and he wasn't going to pick up the leaves. I told him they weren't our leaves, they came from the council's tree."

He added, "Then another man came up, a supervisor, and told me that if the leaves fall in my garden it's up to me to pick them up and dispose of them, that I couldn't put them in the gutter. Everyone in the road does it that way because it gets so messy. They drove off without cleaning up the leaves." When Mr Dodd rang Torbay Council an official confirmed it was residents' responsibility to dispose of the leaves. Mr Dodd asked them what happens if the wind blows the leaves in to the road and was told to take the leaves to the tip. A Torbay Council spokesman said, "We collect about 600 tons of fallen leaves a year from roads and paths in council ownership. Householders have a responsibility to deal with leaves on their property." (Source: This is London, Dec/06)

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