Council snoopers went through the bins of more than 30,000 families last year. The figure was double that of the previous year, despite a Coalition pledge to stamp out the intrusive practice. It was revealed in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Daily Mail.
We can reveal that inspectors are building up a disturbingly detailed profile of families’ lives by rifling through their rubbish in secret.In some cases, they divide the contents into 13 main categories and 52 sub-categories of waste.
Councils claim it is so householders can be targeted for future recycling efforts such as leafleting campaigns. But campaigners fear this data could be passed to other departments such as health or social services. The audits, which are held on a database, can reveal an extraordinarily sophisticated portrait from what sort of foods are eaten and what kind of goods are bought in a particular street. Inspectors, often hired in from the private sector, check supermarket labels, types of unwanted food – and even examine the contents of discarded mail.