On the Telegraph’s Brassneck blog, I talk about the way Ireland deals with household waste:

In Ireland, where the state has - in large parts of the country - fully liberalised refuse collection and recycling, huge innovation has been unleashed. Competing companies are able to offer cheaper prices because they are gaining profits from recycling materials. World-beating machines deal better with “co-mingled” recyclable rubbish than in the UK and bring significant cost-savings. Greyhound, one of Ireland’s larger waste companies, recycles 87% of the rubbish it receives. The best-performing council in the UK only recycles 55% of waste; the lowest 11%. At the same time, householders are empowered, able to switch between companies to get better pricing or service.