Labour is planning to hit families with a pay-as-you-throw “bin tax” while cutting refuse collections to just one a month, Government documents reveal.
Millions of householders already suffer fortnightly collections as half the councils in England have cut their services.
They also face fines of up to £70 for leaving sacks beside bins, putting out refuse too early or in the wrong place, or leaving bin lids open a fraction.
Despite this, Labour is planning to hit homes with widespread bin charging and further cuts in collections.
Nick Clegg is backing the bin taxes and Lib Dem-controlled councils are introducing monthly collections.
This follows calls from the Government domestic waste quango Wrap that bins should be emptied “no more than fortnightly”.
Wrap also predicts a move to monthly collections “in the next three to five years”. Its head, Philip Ward, said this was “inevitable”.
Research for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs suggests introducing heavy fines for those who fail to cut their household waste. The policy would result in “pay-as-you-throw/variable charging,” the study concludes.
Tory spokeswoman Caroline Spelman said: “There is now overwhelming evidence that the Labour Party is planning to hit family homes with bin taxes and a new wave of bin cuts.”
A Defra report last week revealed that householders trying to avoid recycling by burning refuse had become the greatest source of cancer-causing dioxins.
Monthly bin collections will be piloted by the Lib Dem/SNP council in Gordon Brown’s Fife seat later this year. Express
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