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Chip and Bin

7th September 2006 @ 3:03pm – by Peter Morgan
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It's obvious that not everybody is happy with living in the Big Brother world, judging by all the palaver about microchips under the bin-lid. As issues go it's become a right knicker-twister with retired colonel's from Gripe Villas publicly ripping them out (their microchips obviously) in a positive orgy of self-righteous indignation and venting of spleen. All this despite the blatant fact that our existing waste sites are rapidly reaching the end of their useful life, not to mention the imposition of hefty and growing EU fines if we fail to recycle.

And who will pay those fines when they are levied? Will it be the Government, no: will it be society, no: you and I will pay through our taxes. So ask yourself why those of us that go to the trouble of recycling should pay fines on behalf of the ones who don't? And the only way to ensure that the non-recyclers pay is to identify them, hence the chip and bin technology. The alternative is a bin-man laboriously recording the same information by hand into the wagon's computer, so where is the problem?

There is another aspect of this whole waste issue that concerns me and that is the sourcing of future waste sites – as we know, the Maw Green site only has approximately five years capacity left. Some eight to ten years ago, you may recall the publication by Cheshire County Council of a map identifying potential waste site areas in the county. It resulted in a storm of controversy and the document was withdrawn, as I recall, but never the less, the genie had been let out of the bottle.

What was most disconcerting, apart from all the potential sites being in the south of the county, was the fact that it had identified a large area to the west of Audlem and Nantwich as being a prime site for disposal of the most toxic waste. This is due to the fact that Coole Pilate and neighbourhood has a great depth of impervious clay and the proposal was to excavate large pits which would be filled with waste prior to being capped off with the excavated clay. This would raise the ground level in the area by several metres.

I imagine that the document now lies in a council drawer gathering dust, or possibly not. The fact is that, at the time it was published, farming was still relatively prosperous and I heard of no one interested in selling their farm for a waste site. But times have changed in agriculture and who knows what the future might hold. Imagine what daily movements of refuse wagons, some perhaps carrying toxic waste, through the streets of Nantwich or Audlem, would make to the quality of life, not to mention to the Holy of Holies, in this property obsessed age. We need to dump this 'No chip under my bin mentality,' so bin up and recycle because, inevitably, The Gripes will be the first to complain if a new tip should cast a shadow across their castle let alone the vibration of passing refuse wagons cause ripples in their moat!

As an aside, I have for years propagated the need for a waste tax to be levied at source on the manufacturers of packaging. The tax, if imposed throughout the EU, would be relatively easy to collect, would immediately reduce the amount of packaging used and could be structured to encourage the use of biodegradable and/or recyclables. All imported goods would pay a levy at the dockside. So much of what we buy is over packed anyway and usually in the most environmentally damaging materials, oil based, whereas there are now maize or potato starch based alternatives that will quickly degrade. They can be composted or, if you are really hungry....But please don't try that with polystyrene. Not only would it be dangerous to eat, it floats!


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