Government edgy about 'Pay as You Throw'

I can't believe that it was as long ago as 2nd June that I blogged on the subject that has become known as 'Pay as You Throw'. At that time I highlighted a number of reasons why it was unfair, impractical and very bureaucratic and thus should not be adopted in this country. Similar schemes appear to have been successful in some countries on the continent so why not here? The answer is in the question - we are not these other countries, the way things work here I suggest is vastly different to those other places.

It seems that the government are in a predicament on this one. Having pulled back from the brink of setting up a system where we all pay for how much we throw out they are now keen on the idea of a few councils going through with pilot schemes. There's no doubt that as a nation we are incredibly wasteful but it's interesting to see that the subject of excessive packaging is getting aired more and more so this might be something on which inroads can be made to reduce landfill.

One thing that I never see discussed is the degree of waste to landfill the homeowner produces relative to that from other sources, shops, hotels, industry etc. Why don't we ever get the fuller picture?