UK: Spy chips hidden in 2.5 MILLION dustbins: 60pc rise in electronic bugs as council snoopers plan pay-as-you-throw tax

By Gideon Swift | Published: March 8, 2010

The growing threat of a stealth tax on the rubbish we throw away was exposed by startling figures yesterday.

More than 2.5million homes now have wheelie bins fitted with microchips to weigh their contents.

This is an increase of nearly two-thirds in just a year. The bins, which can be electronically identified and weighed, are designed for ‘pay-as-you-throw’ rubbish tax schemes.

Under such schemes – which are likely to be hugely unpopular – families who put out more waste will pay higher taxes to their local council.

Disclosure of the rapid spread of chipped bins followed the announcement this week of the first council to bring in a bin tax. Bristol City is presenting its scheme as a reward for recyclers, with cash payments to homes that leave out less rubbish.

The spread of chipped bins marks the revival of a tax idea that the Government appeared to have abandoned last year.

Gordon Brown promised to ditch bin taxes in the spring of 2008, at a point when the unpopularity among voters of fortnightly collections, strict bin rules, and the threat of pay-as-you-throw was at its height.

In January last year, ministers acknowledged that not one council had applied to test pay-as-you-throw schemes.

But yesterday, research by the Big Brother Watch campaign group showed that the use of chipped bins has quietly spread over the past year.