Local councillors campaigning for election in May must be forced to talk rubbish. Across Britain, outrage is growing over the crass attempts by many councils to shirk responsibility for weekly refuse collection; meanwhile, they want to spy on householders and levy steep fines on anyone caught putting out rubbish early. A survey by The Times has found that, in the past year, more than a dozen councils have raised a total of £185,000 in fines, and others are eager to take advantage of new legislation allowing them to enforce penalties, sometimes simply for leaving empty wheelie bins on the street or failing to use recycling facilities properly.

The punitive zeal comes at a time when councils are also proposing a “bin tax”, allowing them to charge households according to the weight of rubbish put out for collection. Already, 30 councils have taken the first step by introducing wheelie bins with microchips that weigh the contents. They are offering locks to families who fear others will secretly dump rubbish in their bins. The councils claim that they have to be intolerant to avoid paying steep fines proposed by the European Union for any authority exceeding quotas of waste sent to landfill sites.

Their arguments, like their tactics, are disingenuous. Far from encouraging households to recycle more of their rubbish, they will so alienate most residents that the very idea will be discredited and people will regard green arguments merely as a pretext to introduce money-raising fines. The result could be an upsurge in fly-tipping, the dangerous burning of waste on bonfires and potentially violent disputes with local officials. Beyond this, however, there is a fundamental principle at issue. Public hygiene and the safe disposal of waste is a primary (and increasingly the only) duty of a local authority. Regular collection is the mark of a civilised society — and when order breaks down, the first signs are piles of rotting rubbish at the roadside. The proposal, therefore, to cut rubbish collections to only once every two weeks is disgraceful. It will mean misery for millions of households forced to keep bags of stinking waste — a breeding ground for maggots and vermin — in fetid bins or even stacked up in their kitchens. With another hot summer in prospect, the consequences are all too obvious.

Councils argue that recycling and the use of compost heaps will persuade Britons to cut their waste to the far lower levels found in Germany or Scandinavia. They say that fewer collections will mean less noise, pollution and congestion by dustcarts. This is not the motive. It is purely to save money on wages, fuel bills and disposal costs. It is an attempt by councils to cut corners as well as services (while raising large sums from new fines) at a time when many are paying ridiculously exorbitant salaries to top executives.

Central government is equally to blame for these squalid proposals, giving nods and winks to local officials. It has also refused to challenge the absurd new EU fines on those ludicrous landfill targets. The proposal is misconceived. Modern landfill sites are not the stinking eyesores of the past. They can be clean, pollution-free and properly landscaped. Of course recycling is better. But this dishonest way of foisting it on households does not brings support, honesty or transparency to the green debate. Voters should insist their councillors start talking seriously about rubbish.