英國：每年每戶限扔80袋垃圾
Families face being rationed to 80 bags of rubbish a year. Households throwing away more waste will have to take it to the tip or buy a limited number of extra bags.
The scheme is already in use with one council, is being introduced by another and is under consideration by up to 180 more. The quotas are the latest attempt by local authorities to cut down on waste to meet EU targets.
Doretta Cocks, of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collections, said: ‘This is rationing. Some councils with fortnightly collections and wheelie bins are already doing it by reducing the size of their wheelie bins.
“They must think we are idiots. How can they claim to be concerned for the environment when they tell people to drive to the local tip? And what do you do if you don’t have a car? Walk?”
The quotas fly in the face of vows from ministers to end such heavy-handedness.
The bag quota regime is to be imposed by the Tory-led council in Wokingham, Berkshire, and is already in operation in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.
Many of the 180 councils that still offer unrestricted weekly rubbish collections are watching the trial.
Wokingham officials have told residents that 75-litre sacks will be given to each household and anything not left in them will not be collected.
“Every household will receive 80 bags every year,” it said. “You can buy extra bags in rolls of ten but this will be deterred as a general practice.”
Families of five will get 100 rubbish bags a year and households of six or more will get 120. A council spokesman said yesterday that those who cannot keep to their quota will have to drive to municipal tips to get rid of their rubbish.
Residents will have a weekly recycling collection limited to cans, paper and card, plastic bottles and aerosols.
Plastic packaging, tinfoil packaging and glass including bottles must either go with the general waste or be taken to recycling points. Green waste pick-ups cost an extra £60 a year.
The council, which charges a Band D council tax of £1,462 a year, has told residents it will save £922,000 a year under the new system. There will be no local consultation before it is introduced next April.
英國家庭面臨“每年只能扔80袋垃圾”的限令。扔的垃圾超過80袋的家庭得自己將多餘的垃圾送到垃圾站去，或是另外花錢買數量有限的垃圾袋。
目前已經有一個地方的市政廳在實行該計劃，有一個市政廳引進了該計劃，還有180多個市政廳在考慮這項計劃。這個垃圾配額計劃是地方政府爲了減少垃圾量而進行的最新嘗試，以達到歐盟定下的目標。
每週垃圾收集運動的多雷塔•科克斯說：“原來這就叫限額配給。有的地方政府原本是每隔兩週用有輪的大垃圾筒來收集垃圾的，但是現在他們已經開始通過使用更小的垃圾筒來控制配給了。”
科克斯接着說：“他們當我們是傻瓜嗎？他們叫人們自己開車將垃圾送到當地的垃圾站，然後還聲稱自己關心環境？那如果你沒有車怎麼辦？走過去嗎？”
該配額計劃全然不顧部長們要求停止這種強制行爲的呼聲。
伯克郡沃金厄姆區市政廳即將執行垃圾袋配額制度，該市政廳是由保守黨領導的。赫特福德郡的布羅克斯伯恩市已經實施了該制度。
在180個現在仍實行每週一次無限制垃圾收集制度的地方市政廳中，很多正在觀望試驗的結果如何。
沃金厄姆的官員們告訴市民說將發給每戶容量爲75公升的垃圾袋，政府不會收袋子以外的垃圾。
沃金厄姆的官員說：“每年每戶將收到80個垃圾袋，你可以買額外的袋子，一卷十個，但是我們不鼓勵這種做法。”
五口之家每年能得到100個袋子，六口以上的人家能得到120個。沃金厄姆市政廳發言人昨天稱，如果誰扔的垃圾量超過配額，那麼他得自己開車到市垃圾站去扔垃圾。
市民可以每週進行一次可回收垃圾收集，這些垃圾包括易拉罐、紙和卡片、塑料瓶以及噴霧器。
塑料包裝、錫紙包裝和玻璃（包括玻璃瓶）可以歸到普通垃圾裏或者送到垃圾回收點去。綠色垃圾回收每年需要額外支付60英鎊。
沃金厄姆市政廳每年向市民收取1462英鎊的D級市政稅，他們聲稱新制度每年能爲市政廳節省92.2萬英鎊。市政廳稱在明年四月份引進該計劃之前，地方政府將不接受任何諮詢。
Vocabulary:
tip: a place where you can take rubbish/garbage and leave it（垃圾場；垃圾堆）
fortnightly: happening once a fortnight（兩星期一次的）
fly in the face of something: 悍然不顧；公然違抗；與……相悖
heavy-handedness: 高壓手段
Tory: of or relating to the British Conservative Party or its supporters（英國保守黨的，保守黨人）
deter: to make somebody decide not to do something or continue doing something, especially by making them understand the difficulties and unpleasant results of their actions（制止；阻止；威懾；使不敢）
aerosol: a metal container in which a liquid such as paint or hairspray is kept under pressure and released as a spray （噴油漆、頭髮定型劑等的）噴霧器，霧化器；氣霧劑；氣溶膠
