Not just a load of rubbish
In my view, both Caradon District Council and the majority of your correspondents have got it wrong.
As I understand it, the local authority is required to dispose of domestic waste only. This is paid for by all of us through the Council Tax. The environmental cost of landfill sites is high, as is the financial cost of disposing of waste in landfill sites. The local authority is obliged to provide certain services, and provides other services in addition. But it has to raise money from somewhere to do so and, at the end of the day, it has to balance its books. It cannot provide something for nothing.
If certain people want additional, non-domestic, waste collected and disposed of by the local authority, would not most people prefer them to pay for that service themselves, rather than have it funded by all of us through increased Council Tax? They can always take it to the tip themselves, free of charge.
Many other local authorities have been making a small charge for the collection of garden refuse for a long time without, so far as I am aware, all the sniping which has been going on in Caradon recently.
The most environmentally-sound way of disposing of green waste is, apparently, large-scale shredding and composting by local authorities, who can then earn themselves a few more bucks by selling the resulting compost back to the public. Many local authorities run such schemes - and make a small charge for collection.
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