Trashy Governance in Britain

Talk about treating citizens like trash.

According to a New York Times report, garbage removal is getting worse and worse in Great Britain. Many local governments now pick up the trash only every other week, instead of every week.

And there are thousands of rules to obey:

• About recycling.
• Exactly when to deposit your garbage.
• Against depositing “too much” garbage.

Special enforcement officers go around to check — and fine residents who fail to comply.

One victim of the trashy regime is Gareth Corkhill, a Whitehall resident fined £215 for leaving a garbage lid ajar. Then he got socked with another fine, for £225, when he couldn’t pay the first fine. Neighbors got together and paid the fine.

And complained.

The town rector, Reverend John Bannister, says receiving a criminal record “for leaving your wheelie bin open by three inches has, I think, really gone beyond the bounds of responsible behavior.”

That’s British understatement.

It’s not the ability to dispose of garbage that has disappeared in Britain. It’s the permission to do it. What really needs dumping is the authoritarian mentality.

First, stop punishing recipients of mediocre service who imperfectly submit to the mediocrity.

Second, privatize garbage pickup. Let entrepreneurship and competition freely work throughout the land.

Hey, people with extra garbage might be charged a little more. But there is no good reason to treat them like outlaws for providing “too much” business.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.