Topic: Wastes management

Eric Pickles has announced that he will abandon plans to charge people for their use of waste collection services (the "bin tax"). He will use the "carrot" of rewarding people with vouchers for the volume of recyclable material they produce…

I love Liverpool. But sometimes you wonder if they go out of their way to maintain outsiders' perceptions... From DEFRA's Waste Strategy Annual Progress Report 2008/9. That's three incidents per Scouser. As usual, the problem has been…

On the front page of today's FT is the headline: "Osborne warns of big spending cuts to come". But in a speech yesterday, he announced 10 measures that should be implemented in the Budget to "kickstart a green recovery". Just his first…

For numerous reasons (some set out on other posts on this site), heat is a huge, vital, yet ignored sector of our energy systems. It is responsible for nearly half the carbon emissions from the energy sector. It is the reason we are so…

Here is Cameroonian Conservatism in action. If people are inclined to avoid paying for goods, get taxpayers to pay for them, so they appear to be "free" at the point of consumption, in order to reduce the temptation to commit unlawful acts…

Home Planet today, Dr Lynn Dicks, pronouncing on the relative merits of recycling and landfilling, in terms of energy-consumption and carbon-footprint, said: "Various people have looked at this from the point of view of greenhouse gas…

The Communities and local government select committee, chaired by Labour MP Dr Phyllis Starkey, has rubbished (excuse the pun) the government's strategy for reducing waste in landfill sites.  You may remember the plans for fortnightly bin…

You probably haven't heard of the Waste and Resources Action Programme - or WRAP as they are cleverly known. But, on top of giving the public the deeply philosophical question of what came first: the name "Waste and Resources Action…

It is expected that the fortnightly bin collections and the "chip and bin" tax we are to pay on top of council tax for the removal of our bins will increase levels of fly tipping.  If that is the case, we the tax payer have a serious…

Sinister goings on at our town halls. It appears that 68 of them have already installed microchips in to our bins without even telling us. That is more than three million households in Britain who are well equipped to be taxed for their…

Do I sense a Government climb down over Bingate? In what has become an issue of electoral importance, the fortnightly collections fiasco may have had an impact on the recent local elections. The Government can pour billions of pounds away…

I haven't watched it, but apparently on GMTV this morning Tony Blair said that there must be better ways to boost recycling rates than fortnightly bin collections. He described himself as a bit of a traditionalist on the idea according to…

This week's Picking Losers stories seem to be have been dominated by the rubbish collections and, less surprisingly, the NHS. Today is no different. I'll start with rubbish collections... As if to add to the cannon fodder David Miliband is…

This government really doesn't like rubbish, does it? It would rather we just didn't produce it or if we do to hang on to it. It's as though it has suddenly become a luxury, a privilege of the rich to be able to get rid of your rubbish…

So we are told that we will be fined an outrageous fee if we put our rubbish out too early as it encourages mice and rats on to the streets? But what better way to encourage mice and rats on to the streets (as well as a pretty awful smell…

One hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds. That is how much a dozen local councils in England and Wales have raised through fixed penalties from households putting their rubbish out on the wrong day. This includes households who have put…

As reported by the Telegraph, but strangely not available on their website, the charity Inter Care has been forced to shut down its operations by the Environment Agency (EA). Inter Care sends unused drugs from the UK to African hospitals…