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DEFRA chief warm over charging idea but councils stay wary

Head of waste strategy at DEFRA, Simon Hewitt today said that the idea of cost incentives may be beneficial in any scheme that sees householders directly charged for the removal of their waste.

Speaking at a Capita hosted conference on the national waste strategy he said his opinion was that:
“It is hard to motivate people to change their behaviour, so cost incentives may need to be considered. It is a cheap model that works in much of Europe and something the government needs to consider piloting.”

However, commenting on the same issue, Janet Westmoreland, chair of LARAC said although she felt such as scheme to be a “big motivator” in encouraging people to recycle, she added it would be an “administrative nightmare to implement.”

Ms Westmoreland was also wary the scheme would not work as well in the UK as it would in its European counterparts.

“The British lifestyle is such that we don’t like having authority imposed on us. In Germany, they are are more likely to do this without needing to know the reasons why,” she said.

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