As a nation we seem to be using more and more stuff, which in turn creates more and more rubbish. Numerous initiatives to help, or force, us to create less waste are already widespread but once we have generated something that needs to be thrown away, exactly what are our options and how are they likely to change over time?
The issue of household waste is already a mainstream discussion topic for individuals, families, authorities and environmental pressure groups. Our ability to create ever increasing volumes of waste and rubbish is a major concern and new laws are already being implemented to force people to consider very carefully their approaches to disposal, recycling and reusing. Whether they decide to get rid of their rubbish using skip hire services, local authority refuse collection or by visiting their local amenity rubbish tip will not be a straightforward decision soon. Local councils are being compelled by new laws to both handle less waste and to dispose of any waste they do collect in more sustainable ways, and that usually means more expensive ways.
The cost of sustainable waste disposal is one that will ultimately be borne by the householders themselves, either through their regular household rates or council tax charges or by levies at the point of disposal. Getting rid of rubbish is not a cheap business and those who act responsibly and create less waste are not going to happily subsidise the more carefree rubbish generators for very long.
Gone are days when the easiest and lowest cost option was to just throw your rubbish for the weekly refuse collection and we’ll look in more detail at that option in a moment. Also numbered are the days when you can call a skip hire firm and for just a small amount of money a huge receptacle would arrive that you could happily fill with anything you liked for it to be taken a few days later and be gone forever. Hiring a skip these days is still one option , but the charges are now much higher and the items you can actually place in a skip are becoming more restricted. Tradesmen like builders obviously still need options like skip hire services, otherwise they would simply be unable to do their job, so it’s not a service that will disappear completely anytime soon, at least not until a better alternative of removing building waste from a site is made available. But for the individual or householder the choices in terms of skip hire are sure to become more restricted and more expensive.
The regular weekly home rubbish collection is also a disappearing service. All over the country local councils and authorities are already reducing the volume of rubbish they are prepared to collect. They are doing this by forcing people to separate out any waste that can be recycled and also be reducing the frequency with which they empty bins. They are also being stricter of households that seem to over generate in the rubbish stakes. For example some authorities will refuse to empty a bin where the lid is not completely closed. For them it’s an indication of a home generating too much rubbish, which seems a little unfair, when some households have many more residents than others. A system of individual charging seems to be the fairest, where homes are given a rubbish quota based on the number and type of residents. An older couple would receive a smaller quota that a family with three young children say. But the mechanisms for efficiently enforcing such schemes have yet to be created. Those suggested so far, such as the weighing of bins as they are emptied, all have their flaws.
There are also the other issues of leaving waste disposal down to the individual. In the best case this simply creates more hassle and more road journeys if people are to be expected to drive to their local amenity site to get rid of their rubbish and in the worst case it simply increases the level of fly tipping, which is a concern for many.
At the moment many families are doing their very best to control their waste generation and improve their recycling performance. There will always be some people who abandon any concern for these schemes and simply carry on regardless, generating unnecessary rubbish. Eventually the number of people behaving in this way will reduce and peer pressure will take effect.
Already, levels of waste and rubbish created by householders are down significantly on previous years, despite our penchant for throw away goods and packaging. Skip hire companies are seeing a reduction in trade and companies providing products that aid recycling are seeing a boost. Ultimately disposing of rubbish is gong to cost everyone money and no one is going to like spending their hard earned cash on throwing things away. The end result will be better purchasing, less waste and better recycling and re using. A good result all round we think.
Author Resource:
The issues around waste and recycling are hot subjects at the moment. Alternatives to skip hire are discussed on sites like http://www.skiphiredirect.co.uk/ as are other more sustainable methods of rubbish disposal. James Brooks is an environmental journalist covering their development.
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