A FIRM promise not use the microchips in 39,500 Cotswold bins as a ‘pay as you throw’ scheme has been made to residents – providing the district council is not forced to do so.

The announcement was made after a report from the organisation Big Brother Watch revealed that Cotswold District Council is one of 68 councils nationwide to install the controversial devices.

Waste manager Scott Williams said: “We have absolutely no plans to introduce a ‘pay as you throw’ scheme, or any other form of monitoring of people’s waste, unless we are forced to do so by law by central government.”

He explained that microchips were installed in the council’s black wheeled bins in June 2008 when the waste service was changed and at the time it became public knowledge.

He added: “They were installed to monitor the performance of the bin delivery contractors, and ensure that waste collections were taking place. Also, the use of microchips in the bins was considered by the police to be both a powerful deterrent and useful investigatory tool in relation to the issue of lost or stolen bins.

“At the time of the decision there were strong indications from central government that councils might be forced into ‘pay as you throw’ schemes in the future, and the retrospective fitting of chips, should these schemes be implemented, would have been impractical and significantly more expensive.

“Therefore, like many other councils procuring wheeled bins, we took the decision to take advantage of the benefits provided by installing the microchips at the time, at the marginal capital cost of £1.05 per bin, albeit primarily for asset management and contract monitoring purposes.”