Euro control freaks become dumpster devils in UK

NY Times:

The citizens of Whitehaven try, really they do. They separate out their cans, their paper, their cardboard and their glass, and they recycle them all. They compost. They jump up and down on their trash to cram it into their government-issued garbage cans, and they put the trash out for collection at exactly 7 a.m., twice a month.

But when Gareth Corkhill, a bus driver, was fined $215 — and given a further $225 fine and a criminal record when he failed to pay — for leaving his garbage can lid slightly ajar this spring, Whitehaven’s residents banded together in dismay. They raised the money to pay the fine, and they began to complain.

“I consider the fine against Mr. Corkhill to be a matter of injustice, really, and as a Christian minister I’m required to speak out against injustice,” declared the Rev. John Bannister, the rector of Whitehaven, a seaside town in Cumbria, in the far northwest. Referring to the garbage cans residents here use, he said, “To be given a criminal record for leaving your wheelie bin open by three inches has, I think, really gone beyond the bounds of responsible behavior.”

Across Europe, residents are struggling to adjust to a new era of garbage rules. Britain, particularly, is in the midst of a trash crisis, with dwindling landfill space and one of Europe’s poorest recycling records. Threatened with steep fines if they dump too much trash, local governments around the country are imposing strict regimens to force residents to produce less and recycle more.

Many now collect trash every other week, instead of every week. They restrict households to a limited amount of garbage, and refuse to pick up more. They require that garbage be put out only at strict times, reject whole boxes of recyclables that contain the odd nonrecyclable item and employ enforcement officers who issue warnings and impose fines for failure to comply.

...

Under one idea, people’s bins would be fitted with microchips, enabling local councils to record the weight or volume of garbage per household. Although such bins are used already in other European countries, even the prospect has critics in Britain muttering about Big Brother and creeping taxation.

In Whitehaven, the residents are annoyed enough about the rules they already have.

Claire Corkhill, whose husband received the fine for their open bin, is still recovering from the indignity of having two uniformed garbage enforcement officers, or “garbage police,” as they are known locally, show up at her house.

...

Criminalizing garbage is a step too far for many Brits. Their problem is they have lost sovereignty over the issue. They are at the mercy of EU bureaucrats. They have no vote or voice on the issue. It is trash collection without representation.

Speaking of trash, the UK is also plagued by the EU rules on deportation which prevents them from sending terrorist back to places like Jordon so they must turn them loose in the UK and pay them a handsome welfare check on top. Again the voters are powerless against the EU bureaucrats and their government is complicit in bowing to the utter ridiculousness of the situation.

The ridiculous trash rules are good for the rats and vermin, but not for the health of the people who get a double whammy by having rationed health care if they get ill. The environmental control freaks will only get worse. It is part of their anti freedom agenda.