A solution to waste disposal

The growing reliance of town halls on private contractors is illustrated starkly by the problem of coping with more and more rubbish while trying to meet ambitious EU targets to cut landfill waste.

Waste disposal is one of the biggest council expenses. Local authorities in England alone manage about 30 million tonnes of waste every year, at a cost of £3 billion. The volume of waste has been increasing by about 3 per cent year on year.

The cost of cutting back on landfill waste is now a prime factor in council tax increases and will contribute to next year’s inflation-busting rise.

I have a solution and it again involves foreign countries. Why don’t we just pay foreign countries in Africa or other poor areas to take our rubbish? If it costs us £3 billion we can pay poor countries £1 billion for every 30 million tonnes. Council tax bills for waste are then slashed by two thirds saving the country money which can be spent in other areas. The environment is then much better and we have more room for housing

Poor countries could then earn money instead of having us give it to them in aid which never works anyway. This would also employ people in Africa. I don’t know how many but it would be many thousands probably. This would mean that they could try and work themselves out of poverty.

In the end everyone wins because everyone gets something out of it. We also don’t have to give it all to one country. We could spread it around Africa.