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Bin taxes aren't the answer

The ongoing debate over cuts to the frequency of rubbish collections and over incineration highlights how rubbish is increasingly high on the political agenda.

Councils are facing soaring costs of waste disposal, putting pressures to cut costs or else hike up council taxes. Yet the underlying drivers are Gordon Brown’s hikes in landfill taxes and the implementation of EU landfill directives. Whitehall is effectively passing the buck – leaving local taxpayers to foot the bill for new burdens imposed from above.

Labour Ministers’ latest brainwave is bin taxes – getting councils to levy charges for the rubbish collections, on top of council tax. Guildford should rebuff these Government plans.

Claims that it would be ‘revenue neutral’ should be taken with a pinch of salt – especially given the costs of providing micro-chipped, lockable wheelie bins and bankrolling an army of new town hall bin inspectors. In the Republic of Ireland, bin taxes have led to one in ten households burning rubbish in their backyard and a surge in fly-tipping – polluting the local air and harming the environment.

Carrots, not sticks, are the way forward – as demonstrated by Guildford Borough’s strategy of improving doorstep recycling services, combined with keeping weekly collections.

Cllr Sheridan Westlake
Borough councillor for Merrow

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