Rubbish charge pilots to go ahead

English councils are to be allowed to pilot plans to charge households according to rubbish they throw out.

It comes as MPs warn the UK could face fines of up to £180m a year from the European Commission if it does not cut the amount of waste dumped in landfill. The Department for the Environment has said the controversial pay-as-you-throw charges could help reduce this.

Under the EU directive, the UK must reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going into landfill from the 18.1m tonnes dumped in 2003/4 to 13.7m tonnes in 2010, 9.2m in 2013 and 6.3m in 2020.

Householders needed to recycle and compost more of their rubbish, they said, and new energy had to be produced from waste power plants capable of processing up to 15m tonnes each year.

View Full Article 30^th October 2007

Related Recycling Articles

UK Waste Summit told there is still work to do (13^th October 2009)

At a 'waste summit' in London, Mr Benn will tell council leaders they have done well to step up recycling from 8% to 37% in the past decade, but that another 'big step' is required. Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, says it is time for a radical rethink: 'We can't keep producing larg... more >

Private firm starts emptying Edinburgh bins (29^th July 2009)

... more >

Landfill Tax Will Cost English Homes £30 this Year (18^th March 2009)

English local authorities say throwing rubbish in landfill sites will cost the average household £30 this year. They say the imposed taxes on councils for using landfill, aimed at encouraging more recycling, should be put back into recycling facilities. From April 2009, local councils w... more >

Council warning on waste targets (25^th September 2008)

Councils in England have been warned they face multi-million pound fines if they miss EU targets for reducing the waste they send to landfill sites. EU rules on cutting landfill waste come into force in 2010. Despite increasing the amount of rubbish recycled four-fold in ten years, hal... more >

EU law forces battery recycling (27^th September 2008)

Britons will be expected to recycle far more batteries under a new European law which is coming into effect. The EU batteries directive requires that an eighth of all portable domestic batteries sold are recycled by 2012, rising to a fifth by 2016. At the moment only 3% of batteries in... more >