SNOOPERS 2

An army of snooping bin police will inspect the rubbish of millions of families under a sinister Government plan to create “zero waste” in Britain. Squads of spies will carry out dawn raids to check that householders are not throwing out any rubbish and recycling it all instead. People failing to comply with the strict rules face hefty fines. The cloak-and-dagger crackdown from the so-called “Talibin” has been launched in six pilot areas and could eventually apply to virtually all UK households.

It is the latest draconian scheme to be forced through by Labour ministers who have already masterminded the hated fortnightly collections and pay-as-you-throw bin taxes. Laws passed in 2005 give town halls power to enter premises “to examine and investigate as required” and “to take samples of articles or substances found” if they think householders have broken any waste rules. The Zero Waste Places Scheme was launched by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

The idea is that people will have several recycling bins, including a slop bucket for food scraps and bins for glass, plastic, cardboard, paper, tins and garden waste. Everything that could possibly be burned, re-used, recycled or left to rot would have to be sorted and collected, with a traditional black bin for the very small amount to be sent to landfill. Mr Benn suggested every council will be expected to have “full recycling services” by 2020. Where such radical policies are in force in Germany, normal bins are emptied only once a month.

Pilot areas have been set up in parts of Dorset, Shropshire, London and Suffolk. Larry Wolfe, of Shropshire Council, confirmed that the £10,000 scheme involved checking people’s bins. An independent research company had been employed to collect refuse from a sample of properties over different days. A Defra spokeswoman said the idea was to find “innovative ways of reducing waste”.

A Defra spokesman said, “This project does not involve fines for householders who fail to recycle and it does not involve going through individual bins. The project looks at samples of waste collected to see what needs to be done to make it easier for residents to recycle. Reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill is essential if we are to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and get the most possible use out of the planet's resources.” (Source: Daily Express, Feb/10)

People will be routinely asked to answer sensitive questions about their sexuality so a Government quango can compile a massive 'equalities' database. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is to take information given in confidence by millions and place it on a huge 'Lifestyle Database'. It will draw information from sources including visits to A&E departments, government surveys and the reporting of crimes to police. In order for bureaucrats to measure whether gay or straight citizens are suffering greater 'inequality', the EHRC said everybody should be asked to provide information about their sexual identity.

They will be asked if they are heterosexual/straight, gay/lesbian, bisexual or other. Campaigners said the establishment of the 'Big Brother' database, which will be available on the quango's website, would alarm the public. Alex Deane, Director of Big Brother Watch, said, "This intrusive database is being built without even the smallest consideration for privacy. When people go to hospital, they don't think that information about their illness is going to be shared with the EHRC. What possible right does the EHRC have to build this database, and then share what they've gathered with other people on their website?"

Details of the plan emerged after the EHRC, led by chairman Trevor Phillips, began the tendering process for establishing the database. Freedom of Information requests, obtained by the Old Holborn blogger, then revealed what the scheme involved. Equalities bosses have decided they must work out whether citizens are suffering inequality based upon various different factors. These include age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief, transgender status, ethnicity and social class.

Citizens' characteristics will be checked through their answers to various government surveys and information on whether they need hospital care or have called the police. It will allow bureaucrats to check different groups are not more likely to die young, be murdered, suffer illness, or violent crime. Checks will also be made of happiness, healthy living standards and educational attainment. Any minority groups considered to be losing out can then be targeted for Government help. It will not be possible to identify individuals from the information on the database.

But what is alarming campaigners is the way the information will be compiled. Staff are planning to take data which is given to a list of 45 different sources by members of the public. This includes their A&E records, the British Crime Survey, the British Election Study, the Census, Childcare and Early Years Parents' Survey and the Citizenship Survey. The information is not provided in the knowledge it will be handed over to an equality quango but the EHRC's report on the way the database should be established says the sexual identity question should become a standard part of major surveys 'as soon as practicable'.

An EHRC spokesman said, "Crime rates, poor hospital treatment, lack of childcare places and inadequate housing are some of the things that British people are worried about. Looking at each of these problems in isolation doesn't tell the whole story, as these factors may combine together to have a bigger effect on our lives. By looking at all the issues together, our framework will show what needs to be done to make Britain a fairer place to live." (Source: Daily Mail, Dec/09)

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