Charity shops will be “dumping ground” under bin charge plan

As the government announced its plans yesterday to test out new payment systems for the collection of household waste with five councils (see letsrecycle.com story), opposition MPs said measures would lead to “fly-tipping by stealth under the guise of donating to charity”.

Although Defra has not yet finalised the details of the five trials, the Tories claimed government plans will include charges for the use of local civic amenity sites.

They said this would mean householders will dump items like broken toys, single shoes, torn books and used toiletries on the doorsteps of their local charity shops.

“Hated”

Eric Pickles, Conservative shadow secretary of state for local government, said: “Charity shops play a valuable role in raising money for good causes, and helping the environment by encouraging the re-use of goods. Yet Labour's hated plans for new bin taxes and tip taxes now look to punish charities' good work and harm the most needy and vulnerable in our society.”

The Tory concerns were sparked by a response to Defra's consultation on recycling incentives as submitted by the Association of Charity Shops, which represents the nation's 6,800 charity shops. The Conservatives had obtained the document under Freedom of Information laws.

Charities already face the problem of paying for unusable donations to be taken away – and are engaged in a battle with some councils over disposal charges (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Pickles said he feared the High Street would now face the sight of “dumped black bin bags, full of junk and rubbish, piling up outside charity shops”. He accused ministers of “covering up the fact that bin taxes will cost a fortune to implement and will harm the local environment”.

Councils

The Local Government Association, which represents English councils, said yesterday that any local authority that does decide to take up Defra's financial incentive schemes would have to make sure measures were in place to prevent fly-tipping.

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's environment Board, said: “It is vital that any authority thinking of introducing incentive schemes should first make sure there'll be no overall increase in council tax, it has public support and measures are in place to prevent fly tipping. There will be parts of the country where financial incentive schemes are not appropriate, and the final decision must be made by local councils in response to local need and in consultation with local people.”

“Support”

The LGA has called the plans for incentive schemes “good news for councils and local people” – it insists there is public support for rewarding recyclers and penalising those who do not separate out their recyclable waste.

Cllr Bettison, who is also leader of Bracknell Forest council, said: “For decades people have been used to throwing their rubbish away without worrying about the consequences. Those days are over.

“There is now strong public support for schemes that reward people for recycling, and councils should be given the power to introduce these where it is appropriate to do so.

“Evidence from the continent shows incentive schemes can reduce waste and boost recycling. Councils and council tax payers are facing fines of up to £3 billion if we do not dramatically reduce the amount of waste thrown into landfill, and so it is vital we look at alternatives to the status quo,” added the LGA environment board chairman.