Majority of the public support waste charging.
Council leaders published the results of a survey which suggested that the majority of the public support the idea of paying directly for the amount of household rubbish they produce.
The Ipsos MORI poll asked 1,028 British adults:
'Would you support or oppose your council operating a system whereby you pay a reduced council tax rate, and then get charged directly for the amount of household rubbish you produce, so that the more you recycle the less you would pay?'
Of those who responded 64 per cent said they would support the idea and 23 per cent stated that they would oppose it.
The Local Government Association (LGA) also published specific proposals on how 'save as you throw' schemes could work in practice in some parts of the country - and made a firm commitment that local authorities would not use it as a stealth tax to raise extra cash and that any scheme should be supported by local people.
The Local Government Association has outlined three schemes which councils in England could find effective in reducing the amount of waste going into landfill. These are:
- A sack based system in which householders buy different sized pre-paid sacks for general household waste similar to schemes for disposing of garden waste.
- A weight based system where wheelie bins are fitted with chips to allow the bins to be weighed when they are loaded onto the vehicle similar to the system currently used for trade waste.
- A volume based system in which households choose from a range of wheelie bin sizes depending on how much waste they think will be generated, and are charged accordingly.