U-turn on household rubbish charges

The controversial ‘pay as you throw’ tax is set to go ahead as originally planned.  It had been thought that the plan had been dropped following last minute intervention from Downing Street.  However there has once again been a u-turn and English councils will be allowed to pilot the ‘pay as you throw’ charges.

The UK could face fines of up to £180 million a year from the European Commission if it fails to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill sites.  It is hoped that this new tax will help to encourage more households to reduce and recycle their waste, by providing up to £50 annual discount for those that do recycle, and charging an up to an extra £50 for those that do not recycle.

The new rubbish charges would have to be revenue neutral overall.  This means the total amount of money charged by councils is not allowed to be increased.

Eric Pickles, the Shadow Communities Secretary, has criticised the new ‘pay as you throw’ tax scheme.  He said: 

“Bin taxes will harm the local environment by leading to a surge in fly-tipping and toxic backyard burning, yet the Government is cynically trying to give this hated tax some political cover by hiding it in its Climate Change Bill.”