Recycling Articles : The Government’s Waste Strategy

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The Government have unveiled a waste strategy which has the aim of encouraging more people to recycle their waste instead of just throwing it into the rubbish bin; however watchdogs fear this might not be enough to get everyone to change their ways as many will simply ignore the fines or protest them.

One of the new schemes which is thought to be on the horizon is the pay as you throw scheme, this means that households will be charged for amounts of waste which they throw away without giving any thought as to recycling.

However the Government are not calling the strategy a fine or deterrent, but instead are calling it a preventative measure, to encourage more people to recycle. It is thought though that people are not going to take this without a fight as there has already been much ado over the fortnightly bin collection scheme.

Yet it seems that whether we agree or disagree, it will eventually go ahead as similar schemes have been said to have made a huge difference in other EU countries. In Belgium for instance they have seen a huge reduction in the amount of waste there, they are managing to recycle around 70% of their waste, which happens to be three times more than we in the UK currently recycle.

The Government’s new strategy also consists of talk over banning biodegradable waste totally from going into landfills around the country; however there will always be some residual waste and incineration is thought to be an alternative measure.

Right at this moment only around 10% of waste is incinerated with the rest being put into landfills, however it is hoped that will increase by the year 2020. While incinerators seem to be the better solution when it comes to the environment as they produce less harmful emissions, no one wants to live near one, so the problem of where to build them exists.

While it is the householder that the government is mainly targeting, the retailer is not getting away totally. It is thought that there will be a crackdown on those who continue to use excess packaging in their products. When this new strategy will fall into place isn’t quite sure, but undoubtedly it will and when it does, it could force the majority to realise their ways and take into account of what they actually do put into their bin.

Along with the fines it is also thought that around 400,000 wheelie bins already have micro chips fitted into their lids as a way of measuring what and how much is put into a wheelie bin. The chips are about the size of a penny and the waste is measured on going into the rubbish truck. So for all those who sneak just about anything into their wheelie bin, beware - big brother could be watching you and a fine could be dropping through your letterbox very soon.

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