If councils, as landfill operators, must recover the full cost of their operations, the cost of waste management to the consumer will be horrendous. The Minister recently referred to a cost of €11 per collection but this may be a conservative estimate. With newer and higher standards for landfill sites being implemented on a continuing basis, costs will escalate and charges to the consumer will rise accordingly. Cross-subsidisation occurs in many areas of the public services. For example, the excise duty on petrol, car registration fees and motor taxation are not the only moneys spent on roads. There was a time when the road fund supplemented the Exchequer, much to the annoyance of regular road users.