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It's All Rubbish

By
EURSOC Three
Published: 
27 November, 2006

Remember when you had one dustbin, or in American terms, a trashcan, and you just dumped your garbage inside ?

These days are long gone.

If you happen to have the good chance to live in Ashfield, Nottingham, in this borough of England, you have an odds-on chance of being fined £100 for failing to follow detailed regulations as to sort out your rubbish and put it in the correct coloured bin.

The edict of Ashfield District Council was issued this month, The Express reports.

Some might consider that the penalty for not being a proper 'waste disposal citizen' is severe.

This may be so. But the new council ruling also provides for householders who do not follow the proper procedures: They may be prosecuted and hauled before court if they do not pay their fine within 14 days.

Shop manager, Anthony Platt, 26, in nearby Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, says: "I can't see how this can work in an honest way ... I feel like I am going to have to stand guard over my bins all night before they are collected."

Britain's new 'bin bureaucracy' has recently reached new heights. Some councils have introduced 'identity tags' to bins to keep track of how much residents are throwing out.

Many householders fear that the detailed requirements for disposing of garbage may be practically impossible to follow.

As your correspondent has discovered, in a survey of Bucharest, Romania, the situation is more simple: Just throw old chicken legs, leftover borscht and any other refuse, onto a neighbouring street.







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