Ministers to abolish s. 46 EPA waste collection criminal offence
Ministers are proposing to abolish the criminal offence and fines of up to £1,000 which local authorities can currently apply to householders who present their waste incorrectly for collection.
The Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said a new, civil sanction would be put in place instead.
“This will mean that householders will no longer face the threat of a £1,000 fine and a criminal conviction because they have failed to comply with a section 46 [of the Environmental Protection Act 1990] notice from their council,” its consultation paper said.
Defra said that under the revised regime, local authorities would still be able to issue fixed penalties to those householders whose failure to present their waste is harming the quality of the local area for their neighbours. “Harm to local amenity” will be introduced as a test before a civil penalty can be imposed.
“This test fundamentally changes the basis under which local authorities can issue fixed penalties,” the Department said. “The test aims to ensure that penalties are targeted at those who behave in a way which reduces the quality of their neighbours’ surroundings. In other words, penalties might be appropriate when bin bags are left on the street for days on end, for example, but not when someone does not close their bin lid properly, leaves it out for an hour too long, or mistakenly puts something in the wrong bin.”
At the moment the fixed penalties for s. 46 offences are set at between £75 and £110.
The Waste and Recycling Minister Lord Taylor has written to all councils informing them of plans to make interim changes from this Spring.
These would see the range of fixed penalties reduced to £60-80, with a discounted rate of £40 for early payment. Where councils do not specify the amount of the fixed penalty notices, a default of £60 will apply.
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman claimed that the government wanted to right “this wrong as soon as possible”.
She said: “Honest, hard-working people have been punished for innocent mistakes with heavy-handed bin fines for far too long. We are now consigning these bin-fines to the scrap heap of history.
“We want to see people helping us to boost recycling rates by putting out their rubbish correctly, but bullying them with fines is not the way to do it. This consultation will mean that only those causing real problems for their community will get punished.”
A copy of the consultation can be viewed here. The consultation will run until 9 March 2012.
