Political Penguin

Been having a few thoughts about the idea of sticking microchips in people’s bins to charge people according to how much rubbish they put out.
I’ve reached the conclusion it’s a crap idea and here’s why.
1. This is another example of over use of technology to address a problem that could be sorted out in a lot easier way, encompassing yet more databases and IT systems that lets be honest the public sector doesn’t have a good track record on.
2. I’m not going to go as far as brand it a new Poll Tax but I think you’ll get my drift that this is a structure of charging people according to waste produced. How do we account for the fact that on the whole, those with larger families occupy the lower socio-economic strata of our society and therefore would be hit harder even though they are the ones least able to adapt to the new situation or afford it?
3. This system is another example of the privatisation of society. Bear with me on this as I give a little example. I live on a main road in the centre of my town (Willenhall). My wheelie bin sits outside my house about two yards from the public footpath. On a daily basis all odds and ends from coke cans to chip wrappers end up in my bin, deposited by passing pedestrians and I don’t mind one bit. Being quite environmentally aware we don’t get anywhere near filling our bin on a weekly basis so if other passing people’s rubbish ends up in my wheelie bin then quite frankly I’d rather have it there than blowing around the street. (actually as my house is set back and creates a natural wind trap it all ends up on my drive anyway). This is what I would term a bit of the old social society. I’m allowing my bin to be used for the common good, in this case making my road a bit cleaner. Equally I’m also offsetting the work of Walsall Council by picking up what is street litter that blows onto my drive and putting it in my bin. Now I’m sure I’m not the only person who does this although the wind trap situation probably makes it more acute an issue in my case but if we are to be charged according to what goes in our bins then this encourages those such as myself who perform this civic duty to say no, this is my bin, for my rubbish and screw the state of the street because that’s the council’s job to clean up.
Equally, what would happen if I removed the ‘street rubbish’ from my drive and brushed it back onto the public highway? A charge for littering? So there you go, the increasing privatisation of life, the concept that we retract from such civic and publicly minded activities into a defensive personal sphere for which I personally believe there’s too much of already. Not to mention people being suspicious of their neighbours who might be sneaking a bag into your bin while your not looking.
4. This system assumes the issue can be addressed by individual households. Yes, there is scope for changing certain practices but not a lot so the return is actually less than might be imagined. People will continue to consume their usual products for which in many cases there is little in terms of alternative. This then becomes a highly complex, open to errors and contention by householders and quite frankly a pretty crap way of raising part of local taxation.
5. Again, social class and opportunity. Some items that at times are quite heavy are deposited by households who do not have access to a vehicle to take it to the local tip. This then means that removal of such items are placed in the hands of either the local authority or private contractors for which there is little conpetition in service provision, meaning that those least able to pay are hit hardest by a removal cartel between the local authority and maybe, if they’re lucky a private company. Not to mention the incentive to fly-tip.
Right, that’s the criticism. Here’s a few answers.
The onus of this scheme is very much on the householder. Why? A quick rumage through our household waste reveals that the vast majority relates to either plastic wrapping/containers and nappies.
Let’s do nappies first. Yes, we have a little bundle of joy. If I’m honest I would ideologically prefer to use terry towels, however I bow to the wishes of Mrs Penguin on this one. We’ve done the bit about poorer people having larger families so obviously they’ll get hit by this but there are two other things to consider.
Nappies are quite heavy, in weight terms they’re easily the largest proportion of our household waste when it comes to sheer weight. It does not take a genius to work out that for some families, particularly those who may have a hard time making ends meet, that when posed with whether to put the nappies in the bin and incur a fair bit of extra tax or to flush them down the toilet will take the latter option. Which incidentally reminds me of the case of a Councillor in Sandwell who told me about their neighbour doing this, blocking up the drains and all the sewage backing up till it overflowed in his place. Not a nice prospect.
Now before someone tells me there are nappies that you can get that are re-usable and have an inner disposable section that can be safely flushed down the toilet, yes, I already know. I wasn’t aware of them when our first child came along but should another little bundle happen upon us then I think that’s going to be the option, however, the only place that sells then that is even remotely close to me is the Waitrose store in Wolverhampton which is a bugger to get to on public transport and therefore again another example of the system being worse for those who don’t have their own transport.
So that leaves plastics. Things like bottles of pop or milk, well there’s not much that can be done, I’ve made a few small greenhouses out of some for various plants but the supply outstrips the demand so they have to go.
Plastic wrapping is kept very much to a minimum by the fact that we try to grow some of our food and purchase others lose or at least with as little packaging as possible. Almost forgot, non-recyclable paper. Things litle Tetra-Pak and this really annoys me. The milk we buy comes in non-recyclable plastic bottles. We buy this mainly because we cannot source glass milk bottles or recycle those in cartons. Here’s an interesting fact for you which comes from my time living in Finland.
In Finland you can’t get milk in plastic bottles, it all comes in Tetra-Pak cartons which you can quite happily throw in with the other paper in the recycling bin. You can’t do that in the UK, because, at least the last time I checked (a few month ago) the UK does not have a single recycling facility capable of handling Tetra-Pak – how bloody silly is that?
OK, more solutions and here I’m getting into the real nub of the issue.
Again, from my time in Finland, the first thing I noticed when living there was that as you walk into any supermarket, even the small ones, the first thing you come across are these bloody big machines, usually painted green. They have a little hole in them where you put your bottles. The machine scans what type of bottle it is and the digital readout tots up how much money you get on a token that you can then use at the checkout.
Now here’s the really clever part. We’re not just talking your average glass bottle of beer here, no, they do plastic too and anyone who happens upon a stay in Finland will notice this. Plastic bottles are considerably thicker than they are here. Your average bottle of coke or whatever in th UK is under a millimetre but in Finland they’re a good 2 millimetre thick. Why? Well, it’s simple, they’re more durable. So instead of the situation here where plastic bottles are un-reuseable there they are sent off, cleaned, filled with something new and put back on the shelves. They’re also very clever in that instead of the vast array of sizes and shapes you find here, (this goes for glass bottles of beer etc as well) there’s only a few different shapes and sizes so sorting out the bottles is far easier too, all they need is the different brand label stuck on them. This has the benefit of not needing as would be the case in the UK to send off all the glass to be melted down and bottles re-made which requires a lot of energy. You simply wash them out and re-use them, not hard really when you think about it is it?
That brings me on to the final subject. Our over emphasis on individual households. The system in Finland is geared, as it is in Germany too to a lesser degree, on these processes taking place through the retail stores. It ups the bulk, eases the distribution system and allows for a far more efficient way of doing the whole recycling process than the route we are going down.
What it requires? Well, not much really. A bit of regulation to harmonise shapes and types of containers, the requirement for supermarkets to do this and that’s about it. Far more efficient and for the householder, a lot easier too.
I might note that things haven’t always been this way in the UK. I’m probably just about old enough to remember Lucozade coming in glass bottles wrapped in orange plastic. I remember taking the bottles back to the store for a few pence when I was a kid. Ironically we seem to be moving in the wrong direction on this when the solution is so simple. Oh, and I lived in Finland nearly ten years ago so if they were doing that there then, when why the hell can’t we do it here now?