By FITSNews || It was a joke, right? You remember … all those Super Bowl commercials featuring the “Green Police?” A hyper-militant, PC-crazed law enforcement agency whose officers burst into people’s homes and arrested them for not recycling or for using the wrong kind of light bulbs?
It was a joke … we think … although we pointed out a few days later that city government in San Francisco was moving eerily close to precisely the sort of eco-facism the “Green Police” ads depicted, most notable passing a law last summer that provides for fines if citizens and businesses fail to properly separate their recyclables.
Well if you thought that was bad, take a look at what’s happening on the other side of the pond.
From the Daily Mail (UK):
Householders could be fined up to £1,000 if they fail to comply with complex new rules on refuse sorting.
Food scraps, tea bags and vegetable peelings could be banned from landfill sites under government plans to be unveiled today.
Families could end up with five different bins and receptacles – including compulsory slop buckets for food waste – and be forced to sift through rubbish for anything that can be recycled, reused or converted into electricity.
The proposals, the brainchild of environment secretary Hilary Benn, are aimed at increasing recycling rates and slashing greenhouse gas emissions.
Residents who persistently flout the rules by not sorting rubbish properly or refusing to recycle could be fined under powers already enjoyed by local councils.
Assuming our math is correct, £1,000 is around $1,500 – not a small chunk of change.
Bottom line?
Recycling is something everyone should do – but the motivation shouldn’t be a government mandate (or threat of a government fine), it should be because Christian stewardship (to say nothing of the categorical imperative) dictates the behavior.
Of course, don’t be surprised when you see this sort of law making its way to a local government near you, along with hefty fines and plenty of new local bureaucrats tasked with enforcing and collecting them …
WEB EXTRA
Families Face Fine For Using Wrong Waste Bin (Daily Mail UK)
By Yankees Fan March 19, 2010 at 4:44 pm
nyc has had all sorts of mandatory recycling rules and programs for years and they seem to be doing well. i agree that it shouldnt be a national rule, but it works for them and id love to its come to south carolina!
By Liberty For Me March 19, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Yankees Fan…id love to see you in nyc.that would work for me
By Ynotfirst March 19, 2010 at 6:55 pm
remember that old George Michael’s song ” FREEDOM”…??????
well freedom is going away. sold to the highest corporate bidder.
By Lakini March 19, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Recycling is bullsh@t: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1444391672891013193#
By Yankees Fan March 19, 2010 at 8:17 pm
liberty
i dont get it.
By Yankees Fan March 19, 2010 at 8:24 pm
all im saying is that i moved to south carolina 2 years ago and i think it would be good to have some sort of recycling rules because it would make the state a lot better…after all they have recycling plans and stuff in nyc and it works there…not sure but maybe columbia, greenville, charleston can do recycling rules i think a lot of people would be happy!
By Liberty For Me March 19, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Yankees Fan…please watch the video posted above by lakini….its all that has to be said.You will learn tons
By BIN News Editorial Staff March 19, 2010 at 11:08 pm
“Christian stewardship” should be the mandate for recycling?? What a m@r@n!
Isn’t that what brought us Enron? And the “global war on terror” that focused on WMD (not) in Iraq?
sic(k) willie’s little porn site is such a garbage dump he has no clue of recycling issues.
By flipnut March 19, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Our local fascist republic to the north, aka Charlotte, NC, is distributing new recycling bins to all residents. Each bin has an RFID chip in it and readers are being installed on the trucks so they know exactly how much you recycle.
By Mike March 20, 2010 at 8:47 am
There is nothing stopping anyone from recycling. You can recycle yourself.
There are many many recycling centers through each county. May not be the luxury of curbside pick up, but if you want to recycle you can.
By the Booger Picker March 20, 2010 at 1:06 pm
This is merely ‘The Retraining of Americans.’ Wait ’till we address Recism, being polite to fellow Americans and Political Correctism.
Americans are like dogs. Sometimes you gotta beat it in them, how to be good. Catholics had stretchers!
By BC March 21, 2010 at 12:46 am
@Flipnut
Please read the entire story before spinning out of control.
The recycling carts are equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, which will allow the City to manage and track cart location and recycling participation rates. Crews will use scanners to activate the chips as they are delivered, linking the carts to specific residences.
Charlotte is a large city and being able to track these new carts are essential not to mention the participation rate calculation is used to justify the expense of the program. By tracking the participation rate, it will provide the city with a performance measure to show tax-payers they are getting their monies.
Oh, if your worried about that information linking carts to specific addresses; the city uses this information in a system online that helps homeowners/renters know when their recyclables are picked up!
By southernmapart March 21, 2010 at 1:35 pm
May be that the recycle bins and RFID chips are being put in place to control what you buy, and to stop hoarding. Hmmm … wonder what’s comin’?
In the Wild West corner of the state in Oconee County, the council has just approved a grant of 2% of funding to bring DSL to all areas of this rural county. The feds supply the remainder of the money. The reason given is to help kids in the boonies to have more educational opportunity and to assist with economic development so people can work from home. All true.
What officials do not explain is that the new electric meters being built at Itron are electronic and have the means to control your power usage. Full implementation of this control will require DSL in the home.
Zap, whooosh, zap… you’ve used too much water this week, “We’re cuttin’ you back to a trickle.”
Do you get the idea?
Those RFID chips can allow the gum’ment boyz to check to be sure you emptied and returned the cans you bought your pork ‘n beans in, rather than storing a few extra in the garage. Notice that we are beginning to get stamped info on the cans rather than the paper labels.
Big Bro is gonna take care of us’uns.
By Kurier May 17, 2010 at 1:45 pm
YANKEES FAN…It’s been documented that ALL the recyclable material collected in NY City is deposited in landfills…it’s a shame! Research it if you have doubts…AND…wake the f*ck up.