Rubbish, Literally

When regulations ostensibly designed to encourage recycling have the opposite effect, wouldn't you expect that the government might reconsider?  Nah.

A man who was fined for putting the wrong rubbish in a recycling bag has lost his appeal against conviction.

           

Michael Reeves, who denied putting paper in a bag meant for bottles and cans, said he was "devastated" by the decision.

The 29-year-old sports reporter must now pay an extra £350 costs in addition to the £100 fine and £100 costs imposed by Swansea magistrates last October.

Reeves, who was living in a flat at Carlton Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, at the time of the offence, said he would not be recycling his rubbish again.

He said he had tried recycling for a short while after moving to his current home in Tredworth, Gloucester, because all recyclables can go in the same box.

But he added: "After that decision I won't be doing it again. At the moment it's optional and I think that's the way it should be."

Swansea Crown Court heard evidence from Trevor Thomas, a member of the fly-tipping crew at the city council, who was called in to investigate the contents of a recycling bag outside Mr Reeves' flat on June 8.

Mr Thomas said: "It clearly states on the green recycling bags that cans and bottles go in together and paper must be put with nothing else with it."

He said that outside Mr Reeves' flat there was a bag containing half paper and half cans and there was a letter among the papers at the bottom bearing his name and address.

He said Carlton Terrace was a well-known hotspot for the dumping of all kinds of rubbish.

Even George Orwell would have found that story too unbelievable for publication.