Many rubbish bins in the UK are being fitted with microchips to test drive possible “pay as you throw” schemes. This scheme is one of the latest attempts to encourage more recycling, controlling the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfill.

More than 30 councils are participating such as Harrow, Peterborough and Alnwick. Local authorities do not yet have the authorisation to charge households for how much rubbish they produce, but many have taken on the technology that allows wheelie bins to be weighed within 500 grams by the collection trucks.

The chips help to identify the property the rubbish bin belongs to, and once weighed, a bill for the waste would be sent to the household. Councils are expected to get the go-ahead from the government to start charging the residents using the chips.

According to a report for BBC One programme Real Story, some of these bins are helping to point out the areas of low recycling rates. Many of the local authorities are in favour of the scheme, and are already anticipating the changes.

The BBC reported that there is an estimated nine years of landfill space left, and council across the UK are facing tough decision about how to deal with the waste as simply disposing of rubbish in the ground is not an option.

Local authorities can face tough fines from the government on what they bury and by 2010 they will have to meet 40% of recycling targets to avoid EU sanctions. In some areas recycling is now compulsory, meaning if people do not comply rubbish will not be cleared away and they could face prosecution.

However, microchip implemented bins have not proved popular with residents, the Daily Mail reporting of indignant homeowners removing chips and posting them back to their local town hall or throwing them away. An estimated 25,000 “bugs” have been removed in Bournemouth.