Should households be fined for not separating waste and recyclables appropriately?
Written by: Admin
Many people throw everything into the same trash. Some people do it merely out of ignorance, while others think that separating items in the trash will not make much of a difference.
One way to help people understand the importance of proper waste management is; education. However, if people fail to respond after proper awareness, should they be fined for not performing their social responsibility?
Submit your comments here using the comment box below. Your response to the environmental debate will help create awareness.
Topic: Environmental Debates
December 6th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Hi, I would support the mandate. Dumping all your waste into one trash can increase recovery cost for items that can be recycled. Also, most of the waste will end in landfills because of the limited collection and recovery centers. So, if people just want to be lazy or play though games by ignoring the information provided, they deserve to get fined.
Bobby
December 6th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I am pro-green and understand the importance of handling the trash properly, but charging people sounds a bit more aggressive. People should be encouraged to do their part. I don’t think punishing them would help. That’s just my 2 cents.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Education works too slowly in this case. People have benn told,they know, but they are not affected directly. Bottle bills are effective,but there are none in the southeast US. We need to buy products made of recycled material to create the demand for services(jobs) to recover the stuff that is being landfilled.
Government and big business need to get on board seriously with more than lip service.
December 13th, 2009 at 11:23 am
In the UK there are powers available to use if householders seem to willfully contaminated recycling (ie mix the wrong materials contrary to instructions given).
Some of the media like to jump on councils when the powers are used but the is always a trail of education letters, warning letters then legal notices before fines are levied.
At the end of the day it is a minority who fail to do it properly but this minority can cost councils thousands which ends up being paid for by the majority.
PaulM