There is a well-known principle which suggests that if you bestow power upon unsuitable people they will always, always abuse it. Nowhere is this more evident than among local councillors and their officers. Successive governments have allowed local authorities to move from being servants of local taxpayers, tasked with facilitating the services for which they pay heftily, to becoming tyrannical organisations which seek to impose petty regulations on the people who pay them.
Rubbish collection is one such topic. It used to be easy: you put your rubbish in a bin, the dustcart collected it and it was the Council’s business what they did with it. Not now. Residents are expected to sort their rubbish into various categories. That’s not too onerous (though for some items you need a degree in chemistry to establish the chemical composition of your rubbish). But it doesn’t end there. As demonstrated in this farcical episode householders have to ensure their rubbish is not “contaminated” before they throw it away. How they are supposed to do this when they are also urged to not use water or energy is anybody’s guess. But the penalty is as severe as it is ridiculous – you have your dustbin “confiscated”.
Local authorities need to be instructed by government (under whose devolved powers they operate) to make their residents’ lives easier, not to turn them into petty criminals. Better than that they can abolish local authorities entirely and simply farm out essential services to private organisations who will get on with the job in hand without demonising their customers.