Just a quick follow up to my last post about Fylde and Wyre councils implementing the Waste Collector data mining system. I’ve had a look at my wheelie bins in and two of them have RFID chips already implanted. These are the non-recyclable waste (grey) bin and the garden/cardboard waste (green) bin.
The RFID chips are hidden under the lip of the bin.
Clearly, Blackpool council are also planning on deploying the same monitoring system as Fylde and Wyre in order to apply taxes based on how much waste you produce and how much of it is placed in recycling bins.
Ratepayers beware!
Whilst I’m on the subject of refuse collection, today there’s a report that some rigid jobsworths at the council have paid a visit to a garage owner and told him that he is not allowed to pick up rubbish that has blown on to his forecourt and put it in public bins. Apparently once it’s on his property it becomes trade waste and he has to dispose of it through a commercial waste collection at a cost to him.
Maybe he should get a skip load of rubbish and dump it in the doorway of the town hall.
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what about removing these chips?
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If you remove the tags, they just put another in there. Bin men are sneaking these chips into your bins and if for whatever reason your bin doesn’t emit a signal they’ll just put another on it.
It’s almost guaranteed that they’ll start charging people based on either the weight of their waste or based on the amount that is being recycled.
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When my bins were delivered way back when they had the RFID tags in them I removed them shortly afterwards. The tags did get replaced sometime in the following 6 months, so I removed them again. They have never been replaced. Should they return then they’ll just go missing again.
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http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Number-of-teenage-mums-still.6103425.jp
article needed!
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Stop hijacking!
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lol, come on Phil give us an article or shall I cook one up lol?
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I have discovere da chip under the lip of my grey bin, I am in wyre;its been removed by a screwdriver and thrown into the grid, where it belongs.
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But wouldn’t this be a fair way to charge people? I use a composter, I crush my cans, nobody in the house drinks, I have my milk and fresh juice delivered by a milkman he takes the empties, I use the local butchers and fruit and veg shop (all this cuts my waste right down), all my journals are online the times newspaper I get everyday I drop of at works paper recycler. So all this means the bin man can come once a month and I would be happy this should mean that I should have a reduce bill then others who are putting 2 black bins out, 3 green boxes etc. After all phil posted that the poll tax was a fair tax then this also must be a fair way to tax.
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Interesting point John. I think the only difference is that the poll tax replaced another tax. What would taxation based on volume of waste replace?
Surely it would end up being the same as commercial waste, where you pay per bin bag, in which case the council have successfully hoodwinked us all into paying for something that is currently included in council tax, and it’ll all be in the name of “saving the planet”.
Looking at Fylde in particular who are actually implementing this system now, their council are shafting them royally by pumping the tax up by the maximum 4.99% and shifting some current council responsibilities to parish councils instead so they get charged separately. And now they’re seeking to implement a waste levy.
I wouldn’t be whining about it if the council said okay, we’ll knock off 25% of your council tax and implement this system, so you could end up paying less if you’re a conscious recycler. Except they wont implement it like that, it’ll come on top of current rates.
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In addition to that, I think once you start taxing in this way, effectively pay-per-use of waste disposal facilities, why not extend it to everything else?
If you taxed like that, it points directly to the poll tax again; the personal tax where you pay for your own services. However there would need to be a grading on how much services you actually use.
It’s well known that those better off people (that tend to pay more council tax) use less local services, yet currently they pay the lion’s share of the upkeep. If you taxed per use, as I believe they will with waste disposal, then why not have an opt out for libraries, swimming pools, public transport, and so on?
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This might interest you, then:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6901606.ece
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No it’s not a fair system. Why? Because can you say that when you go out to work leaving your bin on the Kerbside that someone won’t come along and dump their rubbish into it to cut down their charges?
And of course Phil is right about Fylde. I could rant on about them all day but I’m very bitter that paying over £1,800 a year in rates won’t entitle me to have one of the few services I use for that (bin emptying) included.
Of course I’ll be tempted to put rubbish in the bins of empty properties or dump it on the beach. And if I’m tempted how many will actually go out and do it?
And if we get charged at home, will we then get charged for taking it to tips ourselves? And of course would we get charged if Fylde and Wyre people took our rubbish to the Blackpool tips if ours were to start charging? It’s a hornets’ nest, it really is.
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This is exactly the problem I have. My bins sit permanently in the back alley – as does most of my streets. One ‘kind’ neighbour frequently *fills* my bin with their rubbish (I don’t know who it is, but if I catch them …). Fyldes response to this was, “Not our problem mate!” You can be 100% certain that if bin charging comes in then this sort of behaviour will dramatically increase.
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In fairness to myslef I was playing devils advocate. But I do think it does raise a good point the poll tax was a fair tax because we all used the same council services but we don’t. My household could easily get away with 1 pick up a month for all my waste so if I could prove this (and the chip could let me) then I would should be allowed a coucil tax rebate?so a good idea if run right.
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Yes but John whilst I personally wouldn’t mind you having a rebate if you don’t use the pickup service every time (or anyone else), as Phil said you need to take into account who uses the pools (in Blackpool’s case that’s lots of people from Fylde!), the parks (now we get into Fylde problems again with tourist use vs resident use), libraries and so on. And that’s very against the whole principle of council tax (which will soon be increased if you’ve had extensions, a view, a good school nearby – even if you don’t have children, and so on)
And if you would get a rebate you can bet your bottom dollar it would be a small one that gradually was eroded away by increasing charges on everything else.
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Will this chip be able to be located by satelittes? tap into your wi fi network?
what next?
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[...] I covered in an earlier post, Fylde and Wyre are spending hundreds of thousands on even more technology to employ the chip and bin system, which actually [...]