Pay-as-you-throw bin schemes could see fines and rewards of around £50 for households depending on how much of their rubbish they recycle, a Government minister suggested today. Experience from other European countries has shown that this level of financial incentive is enough to change behaviour, reduce waste and save taxpayers' money, said environment minister Joan Ruddock. She was speaking as the Government released new guidance on the pilot incentive schemes due to start operating in five trial areas of England from April 2009. The proposal comes in new guidance to town halls planning to take part in the controversial in five bin tax pilot schemes in England. more...

Police have issued a warning following a series of fires in the north of Redditch in recent days. Both police and fire officers have been called to several wheelie bin fires in roads in the Church Hill area, including Greystone Close, Chedworth Close, Flanders Close and Fulbrook Close on Saturday 6 February and Greystone Close again on Sunday 7 February. Ade Taylor, Arson Reduction Manager with Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said: "We are concerned at the danger that these wheelie bin fires pose to both the local community and the fire crews called out to deal with them. "We're working alongside West Mercia Police to investigate them and also doing a targeted leaflet drop in the affected area, giving more advice and information to local residents. Anyone wanting to forward information about the fires can do so in confidence by calling 01905 368222." more...

A 19-year-old man has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years after being found guilty of murdering a Nottingham woman by setting fire to her house. The city's crown court heard William Rowbotham set fire to bins at a home on South Snape Close, Bulwell, in June. Susie Southern, 53, died and her husband Tony suffered burns and cuts while jumping from a bedroom window. more...

Ministers have quietly adopted powers to impose pay-as-you-throw rubbish taxes of £50 or more around the country without the need for a parliamentary vote. Councils will soon be free to charge households extra fees dictated by the weight of the non-recyclable waste they throw away, which would be disclosed to authorities by microchips in their wheelie bins. Government departments are anticipating that almost two-thirds of homes will face the new fees regime, internal documents show. more...

A series of arson attacks took place in Bath during the early hours of Wednesday. Three rubbish bins had been set fire to in the Larkhall area, an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said.

Firefighters are warning of the risk to life after hundreds of wheelie bins were set on fire in Dundee. In four weeks around Bonfire Night more than 550 bins were stolen, set alight, or damaged, according to Tayside Fire and Rescue.

Council inspectors have spent £70,000 of taxpayers' money on a "spying mission" to investigate the type of rubbish that householders are throwing out.

Householders are to face on-the-spot fines of more than £75 and up to £110 for overfilling their bins, the Government has instructed local authorities.

A four-year-old girl who suffered critical burns when her home in Greater Manchester was set on fire has died after weeks in intensive care. Alana Mian was injured in an arson attack at her Bolton home on 23 June which also claimed the life of her grandmother, Hameeda Begum, 71. Alana died on Friday afternoon while in intensive care at a specialist burns unit in Leicester. The blaze started in a bin at the front of the house at around midnight. more...

Police are appealing for help to trace arsonists who set fire to a wheelie bin in the Isle of Man. Detectives said the bin was set alight in Douglas, which in turn ignited three other bins and spread to a nearby garage, in the early hours.

A 71-year-old woman died and the firefighter rescuing her was badly burned in a suspected arson attack at a Bolton house. The blaze is being treated as a suspected arson attack after reports that a wheelie bin had been pushed against the front door and set alight.

Householders could need locks on their bins when the first 'pay as you throw' rubbish taxes come in next year, the Government said yesterday. It would stop people dumping their rubbish in neighbours' bins to avoid paying. The idea comes in guidance to town halls planning to take part in bin tax pilot schemes. But it could prove unworkable. Refuse collectors would need a master key or people would have to leave their bins unlocked on collection day - risking last minute fly-tipping. more...

Crew manager Ian Dempsey said: "People starting wheelie bin fires are endangering themselves, firefighters and, most importantly, innocent members of the community. "They can't know for sure what is in the bin; whether it can give off dangerous fumes or can even explode. If the fire spreads to a house, as happened twice that night, it can threaten the lives of the occupants.

Members of a council which took a Cumbrian man to court for overfilling his wheelie bin, have offered to help pay his fine, a clergyman has said. Gareth Corkhill, 26, of Whitehaven, was prosecuted by Copeland Council after he refused to pay an on-the-spot fine for overfilling his bin by four inches.

Arsonists have set fire to wheelie bins at a Worcestershire school. West Mercia Police said the fire, outside Arrow Vale High school in Redditch, took place some time overnight on Monday.

Bailiffs will be brought in to deal with those who do not pay their bin taxes under the new "pay as you throw" waste scheme.

Fortnightly rubbish collections have been branded an unworkable mess likely to increase fly-tipping, confuse the public and provoke protest riots.
MPs say councils have 'blundered' into scrapping traditional weekly rounds!

Recycling to be rubbished?
Fortnightly rubbish collections may not encourage recycling and could lead to widespread fly-tipping, MPs warn in a report.

A wheelie bin from Peterborough was spotted more than 1,200 miles away - being used to mix cement in Bulgaria.
More than 2,500 bins, worth £30 each, have disappeared from Peterborough, Cambs, in the past year.

The scrapping of weekly waste collections has been blamed for a spate of wheelie bin thefts around the country.
Victims suspect their neighbours have taken their bins to store the extra rubbish caused by fortnightly collections.

A warning was issued today about the dangers of teenagers sniffing the fumes from burning wheelie bins to get high.
Police in South Yorkshire believe dozens of bins in the Barnsley area may have been torched by youths in order to inhale the toxic plastic fumes.

FIREFIGHTERS dealt with another bin fire in Aylesbury last night (Monday).
Suspected arsonists started a bin fire in Edinburgh playing fields, Cherwell Road, Aylesbury.
A firecrew from Aylesbury Station attended the incident, at around 9.45pm.

The first official trials of pay-as-you-throw rubbish technology have started, paving the way for wheelie bin taxes.
Nearly 250,000 households have had microchips fitted to their rubbish bins in a test of the equipment necessary for sending families bills according to how full their bins are.

Hard Line: Tough new rules mean refuse must now be sorted or council chiefs will impose fines.

Householders face a £100 fine for dumping food in the wrong bin under a council's new dustbin diktat.

The Daily Mail also revealed that nearly 100 people a day are being fined under laws that punish householders for leaving wheelie bin lids open.
More than 33,000 were given on the spot penalties in the 12 months after the crackdown was launched.

Burglars carted off their haul of computers in a Wheelie Bin after raiding Kingsthorpe Community College, Northampton.

A single scrap of paper in a bin for glass and tins means this young man now has a criminal record which will blight his entire life.
FINED: Michael Reeves had to pay £200

Nearly half of Britian's household rubbish bins contain all the information a fraudster needs to steal a person's identity, a new survey shows.

Householders face being fined £100 for putting out extra bag of rubbish.
Extreme new rules mean any refuse that does not fit into a bin and is put out for collection by the dustman can be classed as fly-tipping.

LIVES are being put at risk after a rash of wheelie bin arsons in Aylesbury and Long Crendon says Bucks Fire Service.
The warning comes after 12 wheelie bin arsons in the Tring Road area alone in the last three weeks.
Concern for public safety is growing after a wheelie bin fire came dangerously close to exploding a gas main in Grecian Street, off Tring Road last week.
Just last Monday, a Long Crendon family of five were left without a home when fire spread from a wheelie bin to their house, gutting three bedrooms in the process. Fortunately the occupiers were away visiting family on the night of the fire.
The alarming regularity of the arson attacks has prompted Bucks Fire Service to appeal to householders and businesses to be extra vigilant.
Community safety partnership manager Keith Wheeler underlined the seriousness of the fires, all of which have been in the early hours of the morning.