The UK's Environmental Police State
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Would this sight alarm you?
England is already teeming with cameras to “protect” its population from crime. Guns have already been banned from law abiding citizens and, when that didn’t lower crime, pointy knives were banned. In this Liberal Utopia where politics says you can control people’s behavior, we have a new one… the Trash Police (though officially they’re just “collecting information”):
Worried residents thought their rubbish was being stolen when council ‘spies’ dressed in hoodies started rifling through their bins.
Concerned neighbours saw mysterious men emptying their bins into black sacks and loading them into an unmarked white van.
When homeowners questioned the official binmen an hour later they learned their council was conducting a survey of what was being thrown away.
But none of the inhabitants of Cedar Close, Irchester, near Wellingborough, Northants, had received any notice from their council about what was going on.
Resident Gillian Barnett, 61, said the snoopers made her feel ‘very uncomfortable’.
She said: ‘Three young men parked outside my house and just started going through my bins – I thought they were pinching my rubbish. It was very suspicious.
Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough Borough Councils have authorised waste experts Resource Futures to go through the bins of people living in their boroughs as part of this survey.
Of course people would be concerned… wouldn’t you if you looked out your window to see people going through your trash? The “reason” was to collect information on what stuff people were throwing out:
‘The information will be used to help find a more efficient way of disposing of household waste that cannot be recycled.’
"Must follow my programming."
Sure… this is the reason being given and no penalties are being assigned at this point but, you guessed it, that’s probably not far away if we look at this part:
Corby Council lead member for the environment Cllr Peter McEwan said: ‘Landfill charges are currently in excess of £60 per tonne and rising.
‘It is vital that we continue to search for cleaner, greener ways to treat and dispose of our rubbish.’
Whenever a government or business starts quoting the financial costs of something they’re already doing you just know fines and penalties are not far behind. Given the Big Brother climate in the UK and their “advanced” Liberal ideas I’m sure if someone is caught throwing out a head of lettuce that should have gone into a compost bin they’ll end up with a fine.
Brits have lost a remarkable amount of privacy thanks to their Liberal politicians:
Bob Neill, Shadow Local Government Minister, said: ‘There is growing public concern about town halls’ powers to snoop on people’s homes.
‘Laws passed by Labour Ministers have created powers of entry for bin inspectors to enter homes and gardens. These must be scrapped.’
Now I’m all in favor of people trying to be “environmentally friendly” by using cloth bags in place of paper or plastic or of trying to recyle when they can… but this type of behavior is absurd and indicative of the Liberal obsession to “know better” and to enforce their views upon others.
The British government is infected with all sorts of crazy people some of whom believe the British population should be cut down to 30 million people ”save the planet.”
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10:31 AM
Did you know that the police, or a private detective, or anyone really, can already go through your trash? The courts have held that you have no expectation of privacy in your trash, and information in your trash can be used in court against you. What you are talking about here seems even more innocuous than that. The city has a lot of interest in doing a survey of what people throw away because there is a limited amount of space in public landfills, and because there are environmental hazards to our water supply, etc., if people put toxic materials in their trash. We want the government, or private industry, to do these kinds of surveys, because that will presumably help in designing more environmentally friendly packaging, or in encouraging people to recycle, or in preventing environmental damage.
Although I admit it is a little creepy to think of anyone picking through my garbage, people should understand before they throw anything away, that it has now become public property.
.-= Joe Markowitz´s last blog ..Ronald Reagan and the Berlin Wall =-.
11:29 AM
In the U.S. you are correct. However in the UK they can even go into a person’s home and backyard as well. Certainly this is an outrage.
And having a PI or cop sniffing around your trash because you are under investigation and have presumably done something to “deserve” this is different than the situation outlined above.
12:10 PM
I think these people were spies, and they just came up with a great cover ID. My mom has been serving on jury duty for a federal jury, and she didn’t have to sit through very many cases before she started being very careful about what she threw away. I also had friends in high school who did freelance detective work and picked through people’s trash.
At least this explains why the UK has a better unemployment rate than we do. They must have a green jobs czar that knows how to get things done.
.-= burro´s last blog ..Disinterested incompetence =-.
5:15 PM
I find it lamentable that England, home of the Magna Carta should become the birthplace of extreme liberal socialism. As a former law officer I can tell you it is true that once in trash can discarded garbage is public property. However, for legal authority to come snooping for no reason then suspicion rears it’s ugly head, is the garbage picker really acting in a legitamate search or is that person looking for idedntity information.
Bottom line, garbage pickers, unless acting in a legally constitutional search related to an investigation, should keep their noses out of other peoples garbage.
8:02 PM
The Brits, for some reason, have create a police state.
1:07 PM
In one of my college classes, it was brought up how England is covered in security cameras. It seems they have sold their privacy for a false sense of security. They now rely on the government to make decisions for them, and I fear America may be heading in that direction.
1:13 PM
Yes, in one of several ironies the situation is very much as George Orwell described… and he was actually spying for the British government, too.