Your reasons against uniform waste collection across Britain may possibly have some validity, but they simply demonstrate the need for uniformity. Anyway, since when did any council bother too much about spending money, even unnecessarily?.
My council changed the system when their contract with a recycling firm ended. Price paid for mixed recyclables no longer covered cost of collecting. Contract with a different firm pays more. Higher price paid for ready-sorted waste. There are now separate bins for paper and glass. New bins paid for by gov. grant, only available to early-bird councils. ( It may have been EU grant, I can't remember.)
I agree with need for uniformity.
I think producer should be responsible. I sometimes leave excess packaging at supermarket checkouts.
