A SUGGESTION that the Government could make people pay to have some of their household rubbish collected, has sparked a flood of calls to Bexley Council.

It is among ideas being looked at, to cut the amount of rubbish going to landfill sites and to encourage people to recycle more.

Suggestions include collecting the first two bags of rubbish free, with a fee of £1 each for any more bags.

Another is to weigh the rubbish each week and charge for "excess" weight.

At the same time, councils would have to offer free doorstep collections of recyclable rubbish such as paper, glass, tins and plastic.

The idea has been given a cautious welcome by Bexley Council's cabinet member for waste services Councillor Joel Briant.

Bexley currently recycles about 19 per cent of household rubbish one of the best percentages in the country.

The current national target is 25 per cent but that is due to rise to 33 then 36 per cent.

"These are pretty tough targets," said Councillor Briant. "If 70 per cent of people recycled half their rubbish, it would only equal a recycling rate of 35 per cent."

He went on: "Up until now it has been all carrots and no sticks.

"My view is, if people are given the chance to easily recycle and they choose not to, they should pay."

He said allowances should be made for people living in flats, or who are elderly or disabled, who might have problems with separating out their rubbish.

"And councils would have to make sure they had recycling systems in place first.

"I would like to see the details of these proposals and, as a borough with a good record, I would hope we would be in on the ground floor of consultations."

Bexley operates a borough-wide free paper collection and is experimenting in small areas with doorstep collections of kitchen and garden waste, plastic bottles and bags, cans and CDs, and glass. If these are successful, the scheme will go borough-wide next year.

lpiper@london.newsquest.co.uk

July 15, 2002 13:00