Rubbish Bin Collection Fines To Be Scrapped

[calamity jane]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20110410/tuk-rubbish-bin-collection-fines-to-be-s-45dbed5.htm



Sky News 2011


The Government is set to scrap fines for people who break the rules on rubbish collections, it has emerged.
Only the most serious cases of fly-tipping will still be prosecuted under changes set to be announced next month.
People can currently be handed fixed-penatly notices if they repeatedly break the rules on collection times or recycling.
Figures obtained by the Sunday Telegraph show local authorities have raised more than £215,000 from fixed-penalty notices in the last year.
The move comes after the coalition promised to scrap the harsh approach last year.
Ministers have also written to councils warning them against 'backdoor' bin charging for collecting rubbish.
A letter has been sent to all councils in England reminding town halls of the rules no bin collections.
It makes clear that councils are not allowed to charge for the collection of regular rubbish but only for garden waste or bulky items.
They are also not allowed to levy "call-out" charges if they call at a house but the waste is not picked up.
The ministers warned that if householders had to buy their own bin bags, the local authorities could not force residents to buy "official" council rubbish sacks.
If councils set the limit on the number of bins or bags collected from each property but allow householders to buy extra bins, they cannot charge a fee for collecting or disposing of the rubbish.
The ministers wrote: "In short, councils cannot introduce 'backdoor' bin charging for mainstream waste collections or waste disposal.
"Such stealth taxes are not legal and are contrary to the policy direction of the new Government."
The Government believes bin charging would fuel fly-tipping and backyard burning, and put new costs on families at a time when they were struggling to make ends meet.
It is currently passing legislation to abolish controversial rules brought in by Labour ministers which allowed for a "pay-as-you-throw" pilot scheme.
Condemned by critics as a 'bin tax', this rewards those who produce least waste and charge extra to those who throw away the most rubbish.






CJ

[Angry Cat]

Re: Rubbish Bin Collection Fines To Be Scrapped

Common sense must always prevail!

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Rubbish Bin Collection Fines To Be Scrapped

So is the 50p tax rate 2 years early instead of the 2013 Osborne said they say its because many are not paying it because they have found ways to avoid it.

Yeh right good excuse close the loop holes instead of giving in to them

[Angry Cat]

Re: Rubbish Bin Collection Fines To Be Scrapped

The refuse collection issue is absolutely ridiculous and we are made to use more plastic bags now than before;
every item has to be wrapped up in separate plastic bags and;
if you don't put the right item in each bin, the refuse men will refuse to take you bin away, which ultimately leads to a fine.

About time that the Gov. has stepped in on this matter.

[WendyB]

Re: Rubbish Bin Collection Fines To Be Scrapped

Our council has never charged, as far as I know, nor imposed fines for putting stuff in the wrong bin. That's probably because we have only ever had one bin anyway..... up until last year. Although I think they do charge for collections of large items such as sofas, beds etc. This has only started within the last couple of years, and is fair enough, in my opinion, and can easily be avoided by ringing the community recycling centre who will collect for free.
Last year we were provided with a different bin for garden rubbish, and we have recently had a large recycling bin (wheelie bin). basically anything can go in there, except for food and garden rubbish. It's cut us down to only 1 black household waste bag a week, so now I've stopped moaning about the fact that we only have ordinary black bins for household waste, instead of wheelie bins.

Household waste collected weekly, recycling and garden wheelie bins collected fortnightly.

There is very rarely any food waste in our house, as the leftovers, scraps etc are polished off by our dogs