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LONDON - Households in England could soon be billed by their local councils for the amount of rubbish they throw away in an attempt to slash landfill waste.
The Government is to give councils new powers for pilot schemes encouraging residents to recycle more garbage. The programmes are expected to include "pay-as-you-throw" style charges and financial rewards for those who do recycle.
The move comes as a report warned Britain faces fines of more than $528.96 million because it is unlikely to meet the European Union's demand to dramatically reduce its biodegradable landfill waste before 2020.
The House of Commons public accounts committee report criticised the Government for failing to act quickly enough to ensure Britain meets the targets, which were set in 1999.
The chairman of the cross-party committee, Conservative MP Edward Leigh, said the Government needed to speed up development of "green" power stations which can process up to 15 million tonnes of waste a year to generate electricity.
"Waste treatment centres around the country will be a critical factor in reducing the UK's reliance on landfill," he said. "The alternative is a never-ending search for more holes in which to bury our rubbish mountain."
The report's release came amid confusion about whether the Government would ultimately introduce compulsory "pay-as-you-throw" rubbish schemes across Britain.
Last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly intervened to stop a scheduled announcement paving the way for households to be charged about $730 a year in "waste taxes".
But a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs document published on the internet this week said councils in England would instead be given "power to pilot local authority incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling".
"We are working on the detail of the models for piloting at the moment, but none of that information is ready to be published," the department said.
- AAP
