Pebsham ladnfill - latest from Euro MEP

CUTTING down on the amount of waste sent to landfill will help prevent council tax rises caused by EU fines, Richard Ashworth, Conservative MEP for south east England, said this week.

His comments came after the Local Government Association launched its War on Waste, which calls for a radical overhaul of the way rubbish is thrown away and a reduction in the amount of rubbish being produced in the first place.

Figures produced by the LGA show the UK dumps more municipal waste into landfill than any other EU state - the equivalent of half a tonne per household.

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The European Union's 'landfill directive' aims to significantly reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. The British government has introduced the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) to help local authorities meet the targets, and it intends to impose fines of up to 205 million (150 per tonne) on local authorities unless they dramatically improve. Failure to meet the EU Landfill Directive targets could also result in substantial fines imposed on the UK Government by the EU, and it is likely the British government would pass these onto local authorities.

Mr Ashworth said everyone can do their part to reduce landfill by making small changes to their routine such as using recycling schemes, buying a composter for kitchen leftovers, avoiding over-packaged goods and recycling supermarket bags.

But in the longer term, the government is going to have to make some serious policy decisions if the EU's fines are to be avoided.

He said: "The more rubbish we send to landfill, the more we run the risk of fines from both our own government and the EU.

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"Some very small changes in our routine can help alleviate the problem, such as composting kitchen leftovers and recycling things like supermarket bags. Far too many products are over packaged and, while it may make some goods look more attractive, the packaging could increase the risk of fines from the government and the EU.

"Our individual actions will make a difference but eventually the government will have to make some tough policy decisions if EU fines are to be averted."

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