allaboutwomen

Your bin is big money for councils - either they can let you throw away what you want, when you want, and they'll face a large bill for the landfill; or they can introduce all sorts of rules, spy on your rubbish habits, and find a way to charge more for it. Which way do you think councils are going to jump on this one?

Now they've come up with a whole new way to charge you.

Rationing bin bags
The bin spies are back out in force, with a new plan to limit the number of bags of rubbish you are allowed to throw away in any given year. If you ditch more than 80 bags - which is a drop in the ocean if you're planning a clear-out or you have a lot of people over for Christmas - you'll either have to buy more special bags from the council or take it to the tip.

If there are five or more people in the household you'll get 100 bags, and for six or more you'll get 120. It's good to see new and novel ways of encouraging people to have more children... although the average baby gets through way more than 20 bin bags of nappies in a year, so it could be a false economy.

The scheme is already being run by Broxbourne council in Hampshire, and is being considered by another 180 odd, who are watching to see how Broxbourne gets on.

Green or greedy?
It is being sold to residents as an environmental scheme, on the grounds they gets lots of other bags and boxes in which to recycle. If they run the risk of running out of bags, the idea is that they'll try a bit harder to separate the paper and the glass.

However, the idea starts to run aground when you look at the alternatives for those who throw too much away. They can pay for more bags, or they can drive to the local tip, which involves litres of wasted fuel and the rubbish will still get thrown away - which doesn't sound particularly green. Those who can't be bothered to make it to the tip will be tempted into fly tipping, and then you have a whole new environmental problem.