No Recycling ? taxable or not?

Question

Even though everyone is capable of recycling, there are still a lot of people out there who are happy not doing it aqx they beli9eve not their problem, so my question is while there are those who do, and help to bring down cost of services in the borough they live in, should it be a case that those who don't shouldn't be able to derive the benefit of lower community service costs, but instead should pay a charge every month for non recyclying, and hopefully by this way start to do some as it not cost anything to do

Answer 1

Well, it sounds like a good idea but it would be terribly hard to enforce.
And another thing is too.. that how do you possibly keep up on what everyone in the community is doing?
There are 3,000 ppl in my town alone. that's a big job for someone to look into the garbage of each and every person just to see if they recycle or not.
Then you have the problem of neighbors who don't get along. And anyone can say anything aobut anyone..
and it winds up being where ppl will be judged on what someone else says.

Answer 2

Re-cycling bins cost in bulk for a 240 litre bin around the $50/£30 mark. Multiply this figure by about 60,000 (three bins each for an average 20,000 household community) and you get the figure that would quite nicely set up a "recycling at delivery point" plant rather than harrassing people like me who just want their household waste, of any kind, taken away. Our council has just supplied us with our second and third bins. Whereas our original bins were sourced locally, the new ones have to be carted half way across Europe from a foreign firm. So much for the carbon footprint of the transportation mechanism of 40,000 lumps of plastic. Using bottle banks and the like is merely playing into the pockets of the 3rd party firms who deal with refuse on behalf of councils these days. The more us "mugs" do for them (the refuse disposal people) the better the firms' profits. So yes, I am a cynical non-recycler who has done his homework and does not wish to pay any more thanks.

Answer 3

Well I believe if the government want to charge people for not recycling they should first do something about companies that that overpackage their products!! I mean how many times have you bought items that use up so much unnecessary packaging?? Especially packaging that is not recyclable. Therefore the government should something about this first!Furthermore every council has different rules about what can and can't be recycyled. For instance with my council we can't place cardboad in our recycling bins (e.g. cereal boxes) and nor can we place any kind of plastics even though some plastics are recyclable. No wonder some people don't recycle - I think the councils make it difficult for people to know what they can and can't recycle. People need to be taught what is and what isn't recyclable, and all councils should have the same rules for recycling thus making it easier for people!

Answer 4

Yes, recycling can and should be enforced through fines. (don't call it taxes)

I was involved in developing and operating a recycling program on a military installation.

The people living in base housing had the choice: Recycle or getkicked out of housing. We had good participation.

The result was tons EACH of clear glass, brown glass, green glass, newspaper, cardboard, milk jug plastic, other recyclable plastics and several types of metals that the base SOLD each WEEK instead of paying to have hauled off to a landfill.

That was from just a few hundred housing units.... Think of the thousands of tons a city could keep out of a landfill....

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Its easy to enforce... have someone peer in garbage cans and look for obvious recyclables in the landfill can. it does take 3 to 6 different recyclables containers per house to run an efficient system... and the people have to properly sort it.

If the pick-up crew has to re-sort it slows pick-up tremendously.

Answer 5

I didn't start reclycling till recently. We have lived in our house for 3 years now. The city just went to a one bin recycling system, so we don't have to separate everything out. And we didn't think that we had a whole lot to recycle, turns out that we were wrong about that as our bin is full on the bi-weekly pickups.

Answer 6

Yes, if your local council has provided facilities for the collection of recyclables, if you don`t recycle then you should be penalised for being responsible for the vast amount that goes into landfill. Recycling isn`t a difficult thing to do, and it eventually becomes a habit that you automatically do without thinking about.

Answer 7

No, why tax something else? Another thing, a lot of municipalities have stopped their programs because it costs them too much, ie, they don't make enough from the recycled goods to make it cost efficient. But why not bring back the deposit on containers?

Answer 8

Just what we need. More government intrusion into our lives.

If you want recycling, make it worth my while to do so -- give me a sprout on the trash bill or a share of the profits. I'll decide if it's worth the hassle.