Southampton is gearing up to become one of the first councils in Britain to readopt a Government-sponsored initiative that rewards residents for their recycling efforts.
However, the introduction of the scheme could require that households have smart chips placed in their wheelie bins. The chips would be used solely to weight the amount of recycling, and Councilor Matt Dean, environment boss, said that the trial had not been ruled out.
According to Cllr Dean a decision was expected to be reached by this autumn, despite council leader Alec Samuels statements prior to elections that, spies would not be placed in wheelie bins. The news comes in the wake of the new Government scrapping Labour’s proposed ‘bin tax’, dubbed ‘pay as you throw’, and moved towards a rewards approach yesterday.
None of the nation’s councils were keen last year to take on charging households for the rubbish they throw out. Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary, confirmed that the ‘pay as you throw’ initiative will be scrapped entirely. Cllr Dean said that Southampton would partner with Recyclebank to consider its options for a reward scheme. He assured residents that the council had no intentions of penalising households for not recycling.
However, campaign director for the Big Brother Watch pressure group, Dylan Sharpe said that any announcements of microchips in wheelie bins should be met with suspicion, regardless of the Governments proposed intentions. Cllr Dean said any funding for the new reward scheme would come from the savings from a new computer system being installed by the council that will consolidate routes for waste collection trucks.
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