Recycling Articles : Does your wheelie bin have a microchip?

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As the problem concerning the amount of rubbish that we throw away in the UK rises, there has been talk of fines for those who continually abuse how much rubbish they throw into their wheelie bin and even talk of a pay as you throw scheme. However in order to be able to fine you and impose restrictions the local councils first need to catch those that abuse the system.

One way by which they can do this and which those living in Germany have already seen happening is the insertion of a microchip into the lid of the wheelie bin. The microchip monitors what is being thrown into the bin and how much is going in there.

It is thought that in the UK presently the scheme is in place and already there have been around 500,000 wheelie bins that have been secretly fitted with a microchip. It is thought that by doing this homes can be charged on an individual basis for the amount that that household throws away every week; however this is going to cause some controversy.

The charges that are going to be imposed are there to cut down on the amount of waste and to encourage households to take a part in recycling; currently the UK has the third worst recycling rates in the European Union.

It is thought that the government could intend to charge residents by the kilo for the amount of rubbish they throw away that cannot be recycled; if this were true then it could see some families paying around £25 per month.

The government have said that in other countries where fines and charges are already in place the amount of rubbish that is recycled has grown.

Currently local councils have to pay out fines of £150 per tonne of rubbish if they have been found to have failed to meet the recycling targets which are set out by the EU landfill directive.

The tiny microchip is inserted into the lid of the wheelie bin which means that a through record can then be kept of what comes out of the bin when it is tipped into the dustbin lorry. Each pin has a unique number so that records can be kept and this is scanned as it is tipped.

The chips will use radio frequency identification, which is the same used in chips that are put into animals and such and are thought to be around the size of a penny coin. This, the local councils hope, will improve recycling as currently as little as 18% of municipal waste is recycled or composted.

Greece was behind the UK with around 8% and Portugal was the worst with just 3%, however we should take a leaf out of the Netherlands book because they were miles ahead with 65%.

So the next time you throw rubbish into your wheelie bin without giving a thought for recycling, consider if big brother could be watching you by way of a microchip in the lid of the bin.

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