Recycling Articles : Fines if you refuse to recycle

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With recent talk over councils and the government introducing fines as a way of getting more people to recycle it has now been said that it will be down to the local councils whether they will give out fines or not. The announcement was made in the hope that the UK will be brought up to the standards of the rest of the EU when it comes to reducing the amount of waste that we throw away.

If the fines are out into practise then this would mean that it would be down to the local councils to set the rate of the fine and to collect them. The whole point and hope behind the scheme of fines is to encourage the public to recycle and think more about what they are throwing away, it is hoped that by the year 2020, 50% of household waste will be recycled.

However the news wasn’t all bad as along with the fines, the government has outlined an idea to reward those households who do recycle the most, however again it will be down to the various local councils whether fines or rewards are given, when they are given and how much.

There has also been the introduction of the chip and pin system, microchips have been implanted into the lid of the wheelie bins and this has been seen as just a way to spy on the amount of rubbish households throw away and so give out fines accordingly. However this has firmly been denied and it has been said that the idea behind the microchips is only to be able to determine who the bin belongs too.

Currently the UK is way behind countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands when it comes to recycling. One of the things that the Government has asked of retailers is that they start reducing the packaging on products and also colour code products which then makes it easier for the homeowner to understand if the packaging is recyclable or not.

Along with this it is thought that measures will be taken to stop the amount of junk mail that is sent to people and free reusable carrier bags are to be handed out in the supermarkets. Whether or not the fines will work, time will only tell but if everyone did their bit and cut down on the amount of waste and took time to recycle then the environment would have the chance to replenish itself and there wouldn’t be the need to introduce fines so it is a catch 22 situation.

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