Government unveils waste strategy
David Miliband will outline the government's plans
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Thursday, 24, May 2007 08:08
Ministers have announced plans to allow local authorities to develop "financial incentive schemes" to encourage household recycling.
Under the proposals householders who fail to recycle their rubbish could be charged more for having their waste collected than those who do.
Unveiling the government's new waste strategy in parliament this afternoon, environment secretary David Miliband stressed that despite previous action Britain still created more landfill rubbish and recycled less than other countries in Europe.
He told MPs that most of the 100 million tonnes of waste generated by UK households each year ended up on landfill sites.
But while the government's plans would allow councils to financially reward recycling, Mr Miliband stressed that ministers had dismissed the idea of giving local authorities new tax-raising powers to cut waste.
The environment minister told MPs that any schemes implemented by councillors would need to be revenue neutral and be founded on the basis of "good recycling facilities" such as the provision of a kerbside recycling service.
"Local authorities will be able to decide whether or not to develop schemes that reward in cash people who reduce waste and recycle at the expense of those who don't," explained Mr Miliband.
But responding to the plans, the Conservatives accused the government of introducing what amounted to a new stealth tax.
Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth claimed the government's current approach to tackling waste was failing and accused ministers of "bullying" families instead of encouraging them to become more environmentally friendly.
"We need to look at helping householders rather than penalising them. This means we should be letting councils give discounts to those who act in a socially responsible manner, not imposing new stealth taxes," he added.
However Mr Miliband told parliament that the government was confident that its proposed measures to cut waste would work and announced an increase in targets for household recycling from a current rate of 27 per cent to at least 50 per cent by 2020.
The environment secretary said the government was also entering into voluntary agreements with businesses to help prevent waste, including that which is created by junk mail.