Listening to the radio on a Monday morning should be relaxing, but I am feeling quite angry. The new government are scrapping the plans of the previous government to make us all pay for what we throw away, replacing it with incentives to recycle.
So, instead of reducing the amount of rubbish we are creating we are now going to be rewarded for buying more stuff and how are we going to be rewarded – we will get vouchers to buy more stuff – a vicious circle. If you don’t buy very much, then no rewards for you – we need you to buy things – after all, that is what our economy is built on – shopping.
Do I think recycling is a bad thing? Certainly not, but I think we should be at a point now where not recycling is unheard of, unthought of. We shouldn’t have to be rewarded for recycling.
What I do think is that if you throw things away you should pay for it – after all you are taking more landfill and more of that scarce resource – space. It is the only way to make people think about what they are buying and why. I understand the argument, there would be more flytipping, and burning of rubbish or putting it in the neighbours bin – then we will have to be more vigilant.
The pay as you throw works in Belgium – why are we not capable of managing such a scheme. While it may not be the best way, it is surely a start in the right direction.