Chips in the Bin!!

[mattoc66]

Ive read in some newspapers that some councils have put micro-chips in the lids of wheelie-bins.
Some say that this is another case of Big Brother is watching you and it will be a way of councils analysing what we throw away and be a sure fire pathway to a "pay as you throw" policy..
Various council spokespersons however have denied this and have reasured us that this is just an identity chip so that the bins dont end up at a different property to which it was delivered..
Ive heard that it is against the law to prise the chip out of the bin because it would be damage to council property but my question is surely if i had on of these bins its my property because I've paid for it with my �1,000+ per annum council tax and can do what I like with it..
Or can I??

[NixnJay]

My mum has 2 wheelie bins and was going to donate 1 to me, but the "chip" came up in conversation. How does that work tho? Does the bin self destruct upon crossing the borough borders? Or does a man from the council come knockin, asking for his bin back? If so, where do you get a job like that?

[-Zorro-]

A bin with a computer chip in it....

.....thats a Darlek isnt it ?

[lady_p_gold]

If you actually found out how much of your Council Tax goes towards refuse you would be surprised, in our district it is about 60p a week ... out of every pound of Council Tax about 80% of it goes towards fire service, police, roads etc. I do not think there is a chip that could detect what is in a wheelie bin, and there are hundreds that are stolen every year which we all have to end up paying for ... so I think the sentiments behind it are not all evil but merely a way of finding where they go to. Not only that but hundreds of hours are wasted and whole consignments of recycling are sent to landfill because they are contaminated by people not bothering to read what they are supposed to put in there (although I agree it can be confusing) but .... iron bars .. batteries ... and the like are hardly recycling materials and yet they are put into the recycling. Anyway just wanted to put the other side of the case !!

[dannydingbat]

No you don't own the bins. In the same way as you can't use the local school as a holiday home or drive a council van home because you've missed the bus.

[Whickerman]

Folks, it's a commonly used system in many countries, simply to identify that the bin is at the right address, but more importantly that the bills have been paid. They have a system where I live whereby if the bins bill isn't fully up to date, the bin isn't collected - simple as.

[Lou Knee]

do councils think we are datf?

if the chip was solely to identify a particular bin to a particular address then surely a pot of paint would be cheaper???!!!

I have heard that this chip is a way of indetifying the weight of rubbish thrown away and if this is the case then how can we stop someone putting their rubbish in our bins when we put them out on the footpath? We have to put ours out the night before in order to catch the bin men who come at vastly different times of the day.

[Sherwoodlond]

The Lyons report on local government may recommend that local councils charge for the weight of refuse removed in order to encourage recycling. In my borough all refuse is incinerated. so the argument about landfill is irrelevant.
personally I believe that people should simply be encouraged to recycle and not be penalised for putting out their rubbish.
Some will put it in other people's bins.
Some will just dump it in the street.
I expect that the chips will probably be damaged mysteriously. I think a magnet close to them will probably do the trick.