Countryside Alliance: Scrapping bin tax will head off wave of fly-tipping

Monday, 7 June 2010 12:00 AM

Signals from Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Communities, that the coalition Government intends to drop 'pay as you throw' bin taxes will head off a wave of fly-tipping according to the Countryside Alliance.

Mr Pickles has said that bin taxes were "a bad idea, it works against the greater good of what the public are like. It would have meant more fly-tipping, charity shops arriving each morning to find various debris disguised as donations, but actually just rubbish, and would have meant people burning their rubbish at night."

The Countryside Alliance published a report 'Fly tipping: time for action' in 2008 which highlighted the potential for an increase in the amount of fly-tipping and rubbish burning if a bin tax were brought in.

Alliance Head of Policy, Sarah Lee, said: "The Government decision to scrap pay as you throw taxes will protect the countryside and will be welcomed by farmers and other landowners. 63 per cent of all fly-tipping already comes from household waste and using the 'stick' of a bin tax would have lead to a further increase in fly-tipping, as well as the burning of household waste and neighbourhood disputes as people used their neighbours bins to dispose of their rubbish.

"Our research suggests that the 'carrot' of incentivising people through discounts to council tax bills or voucher schemes will, anyway, prove far more successful in boosting the amount of waste that is recycled."

Ends.

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