​New recycling rules are a great idea but bin the bin monitors - Susan Dalgety

​I shrug. “We recycle everything,” I say, pointing to the two indoor bins – one unfeasibly large - that holds all manner of cardboard, paper, tins and glass jars before they are taken outside for the weekly council collection.

There is even a box that used to hold Christmas tree lights that is now a mortuary for ‘dead’ batteries, awaiting the nearest recycling point.

There is always a charity bag on the go, full of unwanted clothes and bric-à-brac that will eventually end up at one of the approximately twenty charity shops within walking distance of our tenement.

We recycle everything we can. And where possible we buy second hand stuff, from clothes, to books and furniture. And still we produce mounds of rubbish.

So I am all in favour of the Scottish government’s attempts to force us to minimise waste.

In the midst of what is a rather rubbish general election campaign, Holyrood passed the Circular Economy bill last week.

According to the government, the new law aims to reduce waste by making reuse and recycling the default choice for Scottish households and businesses.

The bill bans companies from sending unsold goods to landfill and gives councils new powers to crack down on fly tipping. It also proposes bigger fines for anyone caught littering from their vehicle.

So far, so sensible. But there is also a clause in the bill that gives councils the power to issue householders with a fixed-penalty notice if they put items in the wrong rubbish bin.

I can’t be the only person who has emptied stuff into the grey wheelie bin only to realise it was meant for the green one, and spent a sweaty few minutes transferring old newspapers and wine bottles to the correct receptacle.

But should I be fined for my mistake? And how on earth is the city council going to be able to check what we put in our bins. Are refuse collectors expected to rifle through our rubbish before hurling it in the bin lorry?

And what about tenements, where many of us live? Does the whole stair get a fixed penalty notice if Mr X in the top flat insists on putting his unwashed soup cans in the wrong bin.

The bill suggests there will be specially trained staff to rifle through our rubbish and that persistent offenders could be referred to the police. Really?

The city council can barely afford to run basic services like schools and social care. How on earth is it expected to find the cash to employ bin monitors?

And earlier this year Police Scotland said it was not going to investigate ‘low level’ crimes to save on staff resources. I doubt the Chief Constable will welcome the news that officers may have to investigate crimes against wheelie bins.

Of course, we should all play our part in reducing waste, and much of the new law is very sensible, but bin monitors are surely a step too far.