When The Joke Becomes Reality

Via Dan Collins.

Penn and Teller goofed about this on their show, Bull$--t in the past (Video below. Mild language to make it NSFW). It was comical but still absurd enough that surely no serious minded person would try and pass such a law. I guess the lesson here is to never underestimate the levels of stupidity a government will sink to in order to control their population.

The new [nine] bin system by Newcastle-under-Lyme Council, north Staffordshire, includes a silver slop bucket for food waste, which is then emptied into a larger, green outdoor bin.

There is a pink bag for plastic bottles, a blue box for glass, foil, tins and aerosols, a green bag for cardboard and blue bags for paper and magazines.

Clothing and textiles go in a white bag, garden waste in a wheelie bin with a brown lid and non-recyclable waste in a separate grey wheelie bin.

If successful, the scheme – which is more rigorous than any previous recycling standards expected of households – is likely to be adopted by councils up and down the country.
[. . .]
Sylvia Butler ... said: “I’m all for recycling and used to help educate the kids about it during my geography classes, but expecting us to cope with nine different bins and bags is asking too much.

“I have had to take my brown bin down to my allotment – there simply isn’t room in my back yard to house it.”

She added that three different lorries are now used to remove her recycling – a job that was previously carried out by one.
[. . .]
The recycling system, introduced last month, means that only food waste is now collected weekly, with all the other bins emptied on a fortnightly basis [two weeks].

It replaced the old system of five different bins, which is commonly used across the country, with the aim of boosting the rate of recycling from 26 per cent in 2008 to 50 per cent by 2015.
[. . .]
Bin police are used across Britain to ensure recycling regulations are met, with the threat of £100 spot fines for those who overfill bins, leave extra rubbish bags out or put bins out on the wrong day.

Non-payment of the fines can result in the culprit being taken to court, where they could be given a £1,000 fine. [All emphasis mine]

And that's why this program won't go away and other communities will adopt it. Money. One more way to fleece the populace by taking money out of their pockets and putting it in the government's.