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Households across England could soon be billed by their local councils for the amount of rubbish they throw away in an attempt to slash landfill waste.
Councils are to be given new powers by the government to introduce pilot schemes encouraging residents to recycle more of their garbage.
While the government is yet to outline the details of the programs, councils are expected to be given the option of introducing "pay-as-you-throw" style charges and financial rewards for those who do recycle.
The move comes as a new report warned Britain faces fines of more than US$400 million ($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.
It said that while half the population were committed recyclers, the government should do more to encourage recycling by spelling out exactly what people can put in recycle bins and the collection methods available.
Chairman of the cross-party committee, Conservative MP Edward Leigh, said the government also needed to speed up the 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 (government) must start seriously engaging with the obstacles in the way of bringing them on stream.
"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 roll out 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 US$560 a year in "waste taxes".
But a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) document published on the internet this week said English councils would be able to "introduce revenue-neutral financial incentive schemes" to boost household recycling.
However, the document was later altered to say 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," a DEFRA spokeswoman said.
Chairman of the Local Government Association Environment Board Paul Bettison said the pilot schemes were a "significant step in the right direction".
"Britain is the dustbin of Europe, throwing more waste into landfill than any other country on the continent," he said.
"This simply cannot continue.
"There is now strong public support for schemes that reward people for recycling, and councils should be given the power to introduce these where it is appropriate to do so."
Some Conservative MPs fear that if people are charged extra for not recycling, many will just dump their garbage on public land or burn it in their backyards.
- AAP
