Published: Thursday, 11th March, 2010 7:20am

Council rules out 'Pay-as-you-throw' bin charging

by Graham Gibson

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WEST FIFE homes need to start making room for a fourth bin but council bosses have ruled out a new 'Pay as you Throw' scheme which would see containers microchipped.

As the Press reported last month, a recycling trial collecting cans and plastics in Markinch has proved so successful that the system is to be extended to 145,000 households across Fife over the next few years.

Councillors on the region's environment, enterprise and transportation committee agreed to extend the services after recycling rates in the trial area shot up to 70.9 per cent when a new green bin was introduced for plastics and cans.

However, Fife Council environmental sustainability manager Chris Ewing told the Press the local authority would not follow plans by other Scottish councils to bring in chipped bins that weigh waste being thrown out by households, raising fears of 'Pay as you Throw' charging.

He said, "It's not something we have considered and we don't really see value in it for household waste bins.

"For the life of me I cannot see the value of spending quite a lot of money to microchip bins to provide information that broadly we know about anyway."

The Markinch trial was one of three carried out last year across the region, including Leuchars/Strathkinnes/Gaurdbridge and Valleyfield/Culross/Torryburn, and it is hoped the changes could see Fife's overall recycling rate rise by more than 10 per cent and save the council up to £1.6 million in landfill tax and penalties.

Mr Ewing admitted some households could suffer difficulties finding space for the new bin, which the council would deal with on a one-to-one basis.

He said, "There will be households where there are space constraints but we've been particularly heartened that in the two areas where we've been testing this provision of an additional container, we haven't had any complaints that I am aware of in relation to space concerns.

"There will be, I'm sure, some areas or households where there just isn't space for a fourth bin.

"Among the things we'd look at is providing smaller containers where people can store cans and plastics, in smaller quantities, and then take them to recycling points."

During the Markinch trial, the new green bin for plastics and cans was collected every four weeks.

The previous three-colour bins system was altered slightly, with grey bins used to recycle paper and cardboard collected every four weeks.

Brown bins for food and garden waste were collected fortnightly, while the blue bins for waste that could not be recycled were also collected every two weeks.

Mr Ewing conceded the local authority needed to be adaptable should the new size of bin for landfill waste not prove big enough.

"We need to be flexible in this and where it is clear that a larger household is producing a larger volume of recycling than the containers will store then we need to be flexible enough to try and accommodate that, by either providing a larger bin or an additional bin if people are happy to take it," he added.