Whitehall plans for new bin taxes will mean surge in fly-tipping
The Labour Government’s plans to impose Euro-style taxes for the collection of household rubbish, on top of council tax, were slammed today as local Conservatives warned of the dangers of a massive surge in fly-tipping. With the Whitehall ‘consultation’ on the new tax scheme having now closed, the small print of the Government’s own 228-page research reveals the new taxes will almost double the level of fly-tipping in England.
· The Government’s own research estimates that bin taxes will lead to an additional155,000 tonnes of fly-tipping a year across England. This would be equivalent to an average of 440 tonnes of rubbish dumped across the Peterborough City Council area.
· The taxes will almost double the amount that town halls currently spend on cleaning up fly-tipping.
· Illegal dumping includes household waste being placed in neighbour’s bins, in street litter bins, in next door councils, dumping waste at work, and fly-tipping.
Research by the Countryside Alliance has found that black bags full of domestic rubbish already account for 63 per cent of all fly-tipping; yet just one in every 100 fly-tippers is actually prosecuted.
Bin taxes have already been introduced in the Republic of Ireland where they have caused a surge in fly-tipping; families who do not or cannot pay the bin taxes have their rubbish collections stopped. The Keep Britain Tidy campaign has warned that bin taxes will lead to "people simply dumping their garbage illegally in a bid to avoid paying up".
Cllr Caroline Nokes said:
"We already suffer from fly-tipping by irresponsible individuals in Test Valley, and my own Council ward of Romsey Extra is one of the worst hit. It is crucial that we take steps to address the existing problem, without allowing Government proposals to make it even worse.
We need to make sure that residents are educated about the ease with which they can recycle, re-use and reduce their waste, and not just keep hitting them with more and more regulations which ultimately might make matters worse."
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