Punished for not Recycling Correctly
Source: Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
£1,000 FINES FOR USING WRONG BIN
HOUSEHOLDERS face being hit with a fine of up to £1,000 if they do not follow new rules on rubbish bin collection.Throwing refuse into the wrong bin could result in a heavy fine under strict new recycling rules to be unveiled today.
Families could *end up with five different bins as they are forced to put food scraps into slop buckets to be collected for compost.
People will be made to sift through waste to ensure any metal or plastic is not mixed in with tea bags, vegetable peelings or food.
The Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, has *come up with the plans as he wants to banish all food, cans, paper and glass from landfill sites.
People who persistently refuse to sort their rubbish to government-set standards or recycle properly will face the hefty fines.
The initiative comes as people across the country struggle with a series of increasingly complex rules governing rubbish collection.
If the plan is fully executed every house in the UK will be forced to recycle their food waste into slop buckets.
Slop buckets are already used to collect food scraps in millions of homes, adding another bin to the three or four already parked in many gardens and drives.
Critics slammed the proposals as a “stick” to beat people into obeying the Government with. And Conservative environment spokesman Nick Herbert said: “Mandating slop buckets in every kitchen and fining families for putting food scraps in their bin is the typical Labour approach of stick rather than carrot.
“We need to divert waste from landfill and more food and farm waste should be used to generate energy, but the way to achieve that is to encourage households by rewarding them to recycle.”
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “People already pay huge sums in council tax and now face the threat of extra fines if they throw out the wrong things. Hilary Benn would do well to remember that the public sector are there to serve, not to *boss us around.
“Taxpayers will be angry at the prospect of bin and kitchen inspectors *checking up on them. Without these inspectors, the rules will be unenforceable, but with them they are unacceptable and mean added costs.”
Last night Mr Benn defended his plans, to be outlined in the consultation document published by his Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Assembly today.
It is said to propose more fines if food, glass, cans and other recyclables are buried in the ground rather than recycled or used to generate green electricity.
Currently about 55 per cent of household waste *ends up in landfill sites. Councils already pay a tax on every ton of this as a way of increasing recycling rates.
Mr Benn is reported as saying: “We have made good progress, but we can go further.
“We’re sending a lot of waste currently to landfill which really doesn’t make sense.”
A spokesman for Defra said: “This is not about fines for householders – we cannot keep on sending waste to landfill, and it is important that councils work with communities to reduce waste, reuse it where possible, and recycle more.
Research published at the end of 2009 showed 92 per cent of people who frequently use their council’s food collection *find it easy to use."
Phrasal Verbs:
to *end up: to finally be in a particular place or situation
- We started the evening at David's party, then went clubbing and ended up at a chillout the next morning.
- If he continues like he's doing, he will end up in trouble.
- I studied psycology but I ended up teaching.
#PV END UP - to finally be in a particular place or situation (acabar)
— Graham Mad Teacher (@madteacher72) April 16, 2021
e.g. She'll END UP penniless if she continues to spend like that.
e.g. He ENDED UP marryING his high-school sweetheart.
e.g. They often END UP havING an argument about politics.
- Can you come up with a better idea?
- She's come up with a great plan to solve our problems.
#PV COME UP WITH sth - to suggest or think of an idea or plan etc
— Graham Mad Teacher (@madteacher72) April 10, 2020
e.g. He CAME UP WITH some great IDEAS for our new home.
e.g. Who CAME UP WITH that SUGGESTION?
e.g. Is that the best EXCUSE you can COME UP WITH?
e.g. The government must COME UP WITH A SOLUTION fast. https://t.co/Y1EWUi39ej pic.twitter.com/x9rydF84VC
- I wish you'd stop bossing me around.
- His wife is always bossing him around. I feel sorry for him.
Spotlight on Vocabulary:
to find + object + noun/adjective / to find + verb-ing: to think or feel a particular way about someone or something
- I find it dfficult to understand my teacher at times.
- I don't find him an easy person to get on with.
- She finds living in a city like London really stressful.
Comments
But... You need a big house and big kitchen for you have five rubbish bin!!!
Susana
I think THIS SUBJECT IS very important. It's the same IN SPAIN. Everybody should be more AWARE OF this problem.
But... you need a big house and big kitchen TO HAVE five rubbish BINS.
I clean most of the tins and jars that I put into the recycling containers. I doubt others do the same.
What really annoys me is people who leave rubbish at the side of the containers without separating it.
And I sometimes wonder if the vehicles which collect the stuff to be recycled, empty the glass, plastic and paper into the same vehicle.
When I lived in Brussels, similar rule was settled, and actually we lived a little bit scared about end up with a hefty fine caused by our bad recycle.
What is doesnt make sense to me it´s to make a compost, I don’t really know how could deal with dping compost in my flat.
I agree the rubbish in the landfill is a problem, we have to solve it. Before our time, there have been a years and years that people live without plastic and all kind of not organic waste.
Althougth, It´s seem unfair to blame just the costumer and not come uo with plans fir the companies whiches sells all this kind of products and don´t force them to invest in new packages for the product, wich not involved neither plastic or non organic products.
Few people can say that they are unaware of the importance of recycling nowadays. So the question is how can we make these people do their civic duty? It is a simple thing to do but so many people refuse to do it. I am not sure about the effectiveness of fines. I mean, you can be fined for dropping litter yet so many people continue to do so. Put up signs reminding people to recycle? That won't work either. The Spanish don't like being told what to do and will just do the opposite. Unless they are caught putting recyclables in the general waste, the only solution is social pressure.
I consider fining people who don’t recycle (to be) a good policy.
They had similar rules in Brussels when I lived there and we were actually a bit scared about ending up with a hefty fine because of our bad recycling.
What doesn't make sense to me is making compost, I don’t really know how I would deal with making compost in my flat. (You wouldn't have to make compost in your flat - you put the food waste together in a bin and it is collected and made into compost elesewhere.)
I agree the rubbish in the landfill is a problem, we have to solve it. Before our time, there were years and years that people lived without plastic and all kinds of non-organic waste.
However, it seems unfair to just blame the customer and not come uo with plans for the companies which sell all this kind of products and don´t force them to invest in new packaging for the product, which involves neither plastic nor non-organic products.