THE Government has caused an outcry in some quarters, by suggesting people might have to pay to have some of their household rubbish collected.

Our television screens were full of people complaining about "What do I pay my council taxes for?"

But those people have surely missed the point.

If they had looked at the suggestion more closely, they would have realised their councils would still take away their rubbish for free but they would be asked to take more responsibility for what they throw away.

Councils would have to provide free doorstep collections of recyclable rubbish such as glass, plastic, cans, paper and compostable waste.

What is left would go into the usual bin bags and the estimate is, if the rubbish is sorted properly, you should only have two bagfuls left, which would be collected free.

What is wrong with that? At the moment, we recycle only about 11 per cent of our rubbish a quarter of what our European neighbours achieve.

We produce 28m tonnes of household rubbish a year, which is rising by three per cent every year. Where is it all going to go?

How much longer can we use up our finite natural resources and bury all our rubbish in the ground?

It is time we took a more responsible attitude to our rubbish and be prepared to feel it in the pocket if we refuse.

LINDA PIPER

July 15, 2002 19:30