British climate change bureaucrats wield their power over garbage collection

British MPs rubbish proposed law on rubbish removal | Latest News

The proposed changes amount to a reversal of the basic right of all households to have their rubbish collected, which was enshrined in law by the Public Health Act 1875.

The measures have already passed through two parts of a three-stage scrutiny process in parliament and will become law later this year if they are approved by the standing committee on climate change, which is dominated by Labour MPs.

It comes at a time when the government is already under fire over controversial fortnightly rubbish collections instead of weekly collections, and “pay as you throw” schemes being tried by some councils, in which bins are weighed and penalties imposed on people whose rubbish exceeds set limits.

The government said it wants to change the image of Britain as the “rubbish dump of Europe”. Minister for Climate Change and Waste Joan Ruddock said: “All that has changed is that when a household is given a formal notice, if they don’t abide by it then the council no longer has a duty to collect.”