The environment secretary, David Miliband announced today that he is introducing a host of measures that he hopes will bring our recycling and waste management up to European standards. He is pledging that the UK will recycle 50% of its waste by 2020. The primary method he appears to be using to achieve this is to allow local councils to ‘fine’ households that do not recycle and ‘reward’ those that do. Of course there are other measures to go with this policy, such as allowing people to opt out of undirected junk mail, and a 25% reduction in the environmental impact of plastic bags in the next year and a half. Sounds good in theory, but how it will work in practise remains to be seen. The real cause of the problem seems to have been ignored.

[Via The Guardian]