Some think tank over in England is suggesting that they should have a “waste tax” on goods that end up in landfills. One of those items would be ink cartridges.  The Institute for Public Policy Research and the Green Alliance want the government to impose a £5 tax on disposable cameras and then some other tax amount on ink cartridges, batteries etc. that aren’t recycled.  The IPPR notes that similar programs have worked well in both Belgium and Germany.

This is a very good idea, although some people might balk at the idea of a higher tax, since I assume the manufacturers would just pass it along to the consumers.  But the amount of waste from products that can be recycled (like ink cartridges) is astounding and it grows every year.  Sadly, we are behind Western Europe when it comes to this type of thing.  This is due to the fact that they are a lot less corporation-friendly than the U.S. is and because, frankly, it’s easier to take steps like this in a country like England simply because the population is so much smaller than ours.

Ministers urged to tax waste [The Independent]