UK waste policy is 'tax scam'

Eric Pickles, the shadow spokesman on the environment, told radio listeners recently that the whole waste collection policy is a fiasco with economic and revenue concerns rather than an environmental issue.

The latter is no more than a phoney purist front which abuses real environmental concerns.

No doubt on coming to government he will be saying something different, but at the moment he appears to be telling the truth.

He said that it is not the European parliament but our Government which is threatening local government with fines, which is then passing on the threat to the citizen.

All this in order to raise another form of tax.

In actual fact, only 11 per cent of waste is made up from household rubbish. Furthermore a great percentage of waste is going into landfill sites either here or, for example, in China, and other places around the world. It is stored in large hangars awaiting heavy carbon foot print processes as it is shipped abroad.

With the recession taking hold, the industry is not buying the waste so the burden will be passed to the taxpayer. The latest rouse will be to weigh bins and fine householders.

This will mean others dumping into other people's bins while fly-tipping goes virtually unchallenged.

The fortnightly bin collection policy actually makes the situation worse and again passes the problem to the householder.

John D Evans

Randlay