It’s been fairly quiet on the ‘Council Bin Tax Killed Princess Diana’ hysteria front, and I suspect New Year’s Day was a slow news day. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that the Daily Mail chose to run yet another re-hash of its opposition to variable waste charges under the guise of ‘news’.The key facts they choose to overlook are
- waste is not building up in the streets, because Councils provide a perfectly adequate collection service to every household in the UK
- people who recycle (and even relatively small amounts) will pay less to their local Council
- people who prefer to fly-tip are not an oppressed majority – they are litter louts and should be treated as criminals
- current problems with ‘stockpiling of recyclables’ are temporary due to the sudden collapse in demand
- we cannot keep shovelling huge amounts of waste into the ground
Doing nothing and blaming Local Government for all the world’s ills is, no doubt, very popular but it won’t solve the problem that the UK has been collectively avoiding for decades. The rest of Europe has developed a culture of waste minimisation along with civic pride and responsibility for its street scene. That’s one European import I’d welcome.
Footnote – the Dail Mail comment police still haven’t released the item I wrote on their article a week ago. Looking at the comments on there it appears that 100% of the public agree entirely with the article. Are the Daily Mail following a policy of suppressing dissenting comments?