Remember the video where a shopper is manhandled by the Green Police for requesting a plastic bag? For UK householders that time has arrived with "green crimes" getting a larger fine than shoplifting!
Figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph have revealed that local authorities issued more than 1,240 fixed penalty notices last year for breaking rules on recycling and putting out rubbish.
Councils are issuing fines of up to £110 for such infringements as putting their bins out for collection at the wrong time, over filling bins, or putting recycling into the wrong boxes. That compares to the £80 spot fines that can be issued by police to people caught shoplifting.
The controversial rules have been condemned as "draconian" and are deeply unpopular with householders.
Councils insist the fines are necessary. They say that wheelie bins left on pavements are unsightly and may cause a hazard to the elderly.
They claim they must enforce rules on recycling to ensure the government can meet European targets on reducing the amount of rubbish which goes to landfill.
Environmental wardens, nicknamed the "bin police" are sent out to look for infringements and in some cases have rummaged through people's rubbish to inspect the contents or even to find documents linking the rubbish to householders.
As well as the fines, local authorities have issued 24,914 official Statutory Notices last year threatening householders with fines. A further 45,010 warning letters were also sent out pointing out breaches in bin and recycling rules.
I am reminded of the words of Wordsworth - "Shades of the prison house begin to close about the growing boy" when I see the bureaucratic regulation of our lives increasing inexorably day by day . We are like the frog in the saucepan of warming water - we won't jump out until it is too late!
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