Government moves to scrap 'bin tax'

The government is remove council powers to charge residents for household refuse collections or fine households for overfilling their bins, it was announced today.

In a joint statement from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the departments said that primary legislation would be introduced to repeal the relevant laws and that DEFRA would no longer support existing pilot schemes.

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: "Bin taxes would have harmed the local environment by fuelling fly-tipping and backyard burning. It would have created a new army of municipal bin police and forced families to lock up their bins at night. These taxes are now being consigned to the political scrapheap."

Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: "The new government wants to make it easier for people to go green and increase their recycling. Rather than punishing struggling families with new taxes and fines, we will be supporting innovative schemes, like those introduced in Windsor and Maidenhead, which reward people for recycling and doing the right thing."