Hundreds of councils are taking advantage of powers that allow them to charge home owners just for leaving their rubbish out in the wrong place or at the wrong time.
Some local authorities are earning up to £24,000 a year in fines that are handed to residents for offences such as putting waste by the side of wheelie bins or leaving their bags out a day early.
A survey by The Daily Telegraph found that almost half of councils are using fines to encourage residents to obey strict rubbish collection rules.
Of the 72 councils who responded, 28 had imposed the penalties and a further six were intending to bring them in over the next few months.
At the top of the table was Cardiff council which handed out a total of £24,000 of fines for 397 offences in the past year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/27/nbins127.xml 
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