BBC investigates drive to reduce household waste

The broadcaster told letsrecycle.com the programme will follow “councils across the UK dishing out fines for putting too much or the wrong litter out for collection”.

It will also highlight “those families who struggle to cope with mounting bin bags and confusing recycling laws”.

A statement from the BBC explained: “With Government under pressure to slash the amounts of rubbish tipped into landfill, councils across the UK are forcing householders to take responsibility for what they throw away. Some have reduced collections to two weeks to force people to recycle but many homes have bins piling up and report increase in rats and flies.”

The programme will warn that councils are preparing to pass on the “massive hike” in Landfill Tax to householders via “pay and you throw” systems using bin weighing machines.

Bin weighing
The BBC said experts had told it that such “pay and you throw” policies would lead to people burning their rubbish in their back gardens or fly tipping it illegally.

Last December saw the Real Story series suggesting that recyclable materials collected from UK households were being shipped out to landfill sites in Indonesia and China. Some of the findings of the programme were later refuted by local authority experts (see letsrecycle.com story).

Real Story with Fiona Bruce – Wednesday 4th October 7.30pm BBC One