‘You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting’

As God told Belshazzar in an early example of a text message, ‘You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting’. The writing may soon be on the wall for those of us who throw out too much non-recyclable waste.

The new wheelie bin provided by my local council, in common with many others around the country, contains an implanted microchip that could be used to weigh how much rubbish I put in it.

In the future, councils may use this as a basis for charging people (although they don’t yet have this power). The reaction to this has been indignant in some quarters, but councils which dump too much rubbish in landfill sites will themselves soon be fined, so it would seem fair that those who waste more pay more.

For Christians, the knowledge that all we have is given by God should perhaps be enough to prompt us to think about how we can reduce our waste - by avoiding products with excess packaging, for example. But, as human beings, a financial incentive can do wonders to concentrate the mind.

Karl Wallendszus is a member of Sage, Oxford’s Christian Environmental Group, and St Frideswide’s Church, Oxford.