Lib Dems Pledge No Bin Tax In The Vale

3.28.11pm GMT Mon 23rd Feb 2009

Vale Liberal Democrats will ask the Council to agree a clear statement of principle on Wednesday opposing any government moves to introduce a charge for waste by weight.

The motion to Council will seek to confirm that microchips to be placed in wheelie bins under the new waste contract, Verdant, will be used to help improve the service, not to penalise residents. The Council's waste contractor is required to collect information about the rubbish collected and the new chips will simply automate this process.

The chips will give the contractor up to the minute information on where their waste lorries are, so that they can address any problems on the rounds, such as missed bins or traffic delays. They will also ensure that collections do not begin before 7am, causing a nuisance to residents.

The new chips will be used to monitor waste collected to allow the contractor to feed back to residents on the amount of rubbish collected and to inform people about improvements to the level of recycling.

Executive Member Cllr Jenny Hannaby said: "The new technology we are introducing will not change what the Vale currently does as we need to collect a range of information about the amount of waste collected across the district. The chips will make this process simpler and it will allow our new contractor to provide a much better service to residents, since any complaints can be dealt with immediately with up to date information available to the customer service teams."

Cllr Julie Mayhew-Archer said: "The Vale is streets ahead of other authorities in cutting the amount of waste residents produce and this new technology will help us to continue this significant improvement by providing information and support to residents about increasing recycling. The new waste contractor, Verdant, expects to significantly increase our recycling rate by 2011 and the information provided by these chips will assist them in achieving this ambitious target. We will not charge for rubbish by the weight of people's bins and we will ask the Vale's Chief Executive to write to the government to advise them of our opposition to any such proposal."