It's all a load of rubbish

As I drove to the train station this morning, I saw the bin men emptying people's bins. One of them was rooting through the bins to check that that household was not putting recyclable items in their normal trash...

I read in the newspaper today that local councils nationwide (cough, cough, the Labour Government) are going to start charging us for the amount of rubbish that we throw away, in a bid to persuade more people to recycle - a so called pay-as-you-throw scheme. Or, another one of Gordy's stealth taxes, that is going to cost the average British family an extra £120 each year. Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for recycling - in the long term it is much more economically efficient than producing new 'things' every time, not to mention the extra benefits environmentally. BUT, in a country which is being driven in to the ground by non-stop taxes, surely there are better to overcome these problems? I lived in Argentina for a while, and pretty much all drinks and liquids come in glass bottles. Now, you do pay an extra 25 cents more, as a 'deposit' for the bottles, but this you get back when you return them. The same happens in Netherlands. You have bottle-return points AT the supermarkets or bottle shops, where you deposit your glass bottles and get a receipt, so that when you go shopping you either get the money back or get the money off your next bottle purchase. Not only that, but plastic bags have become pretty much obsolete too, further cutting down the extra rubbish.

And what about the UK? I mean, if Argentina (a developing world, for heaven's sake) can get it right, then surely the developed world should be too? Hell, no. This is just way too much to ask by the sounds of things. My council provides two wheelie bins. A brown one for rubbish and a green one for all recyclable items. Now, in to the green one, they ask you to put in paper, cardboard, plastic and tins (but they do not recycle glass - duh). Now, there is absolutely no way on earth I will believe that the London Borough of Sutton actually employs people to sort through the items in the green bins so that they can all be recycled. NO WAY, JOSE. They do, however, encourage their rubbish collectors to search through the bins, in the hope that they will be able to fine you. This is all just a ridiculous money-spinner and I seriously can't understand why other people don't see this. I understand that we all have to pay taxes. Without giving money to the state, we would have no public services. But, when we are all now being taxed to the hilt and we are not getting the services that we pay for, and on top of it we are treated like crap, forgive me if I don't want to hand any more of my money over.

On a brighter note, I've just found out that I was paid today instead of next Monday. Woohoo!