Council back use of fixed penalty notices to support zero waste plan
The Highland Council believes that Scotland should follow the regulation in England, which allows local councils to serve fixed penalty notices on householders as a means of encouraging them to separate wastes for disposal and correctly use the recycling bins provided.
In its submission to the Scottish Government on the consultation on the Zero Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2011, the Council says penalties should also apply to local businesses to ensure consistency in the application of the zero tolerance to waste disposal.
The Council sees the future use of fixed penalties as a supplementary means of reducing waste rather than the main weapon of attack on waste. Firstly, the Council would aim to educate and convince householders and businesses of the advantages of reducing waste.
The Zero Waste Regulations and the Environmental Protection Regulations envisage:-
The Council intends to complete the introduction of alternate weekly collections of waste, currently on trial in Skye and Lochalsh, by April 2012. This will see householders and businesses in the Highlands separating their waste, so that residual waste is collected one week and recyclables the following week. The blue bin collections accept cardboard, plastic bottles, paper and magazines and steel and aluminium cans.
The Council does not support the plan to include glass and textiles in these bins, preferring the current disposal in coloured bottle banks and textile banks at recycling points and centres.
Councillor John Laing, Chairman of the Councils TEC Services Committee, fully supports the zero waste plan, which seeks to achieve greater segregation of waste. He is particularly concerned at the large amount of food that is thrown out. It is estimated that food represents 25% of the waste in residual bin disposal.
He said: “There are major changes ahead, which place a much higher duty of care on householders and businesses. The draft regulations require the separation of food from other waste and the separation of recyclables from residual waste.
“The reduction of waste and the increase in recycling must make sense and I am confident that we will take the public with us on this one. At present, each one of us throws out £400 worth of food each year. This is a terrible waste and we must be able to do much better than this in the future.
“The possible introduction of fixed penalty notices on people who ignore the advice we give them is a useful tool for enforcement. But this would be a last resort after a householder or business has ignored advice and warnings. Education will always be the best way of achieving our goals. We would also support and encourage the Government to examine ways that incentives can be used to encourage more recycling.”