Halton borough council in Cheshire is set to become the second local authority in the UK to trial the American rewards-based recycling scheme RecycleBank - and the first Labour-controlled council to pilot the scheme.

The local authority has decided to launch a six-month pilot in October 2009 for 10,000 households in seven areas across the borough. This will see residents rewarded with vouchers and discounts at local stores based on the amount of material they recycle.

The scheme will apply to dry recyclable material collected at the kerbside by the council's in-house recycling collection service team and, if successful, is likely to be extended borough-wide from summer 2010.

The announcement of the pilot comes shortly after the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which launched the first pilot of the scheme in the UK in June, started preparing for the second phase of its trial of the scheme (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, Halton will be the first Labour-controlled council to adopt the system - a move which is understood to be important to RecycleBank to prove that its service is not restricted to one political group.

Councillor Phil Harris, Halton council's executive board member for recycling, said: "Halton borough council has always believed in encouraging people to recycle and this new scheme rewards those who choose to do so. It also offers the opportunity to promote and encourage local economic development with the participation of local businesses and charities in the rewards programme."

Incentive 

Halton council is hopeful that the introduction of the incentive scheme will help increase its kerbside recycling participation, which is currently 50%. In addition, it hopes to increase the amount of recycled material collected per household by an average of 50-55kg a year and increase the council's recycling rate by 5%.

RecycleBank, under the scheme, will identify national and local retailers to take part in the scheme and manages the recycling rewards points element of the system. An annual payment will be made to RecycleBank and will be based on an agreed percentage of the savings made by the council through the avoidance of waste disposal costs.

Matthew Tucker, president of RecycleBank, said: "We have found UK residents to be much more in touch with environmental issues and we are pleased to see such a high pick up rate which we hope to replicate in Halton."

"Our success shows that UK residents are ready and eager for a rewards based recycling initiative that will revolutionise recycling across the country," he said.

A spokesman for Halton council told letsrecycle.com that it was still finalising details of the scheme and that it could not yet give a date in October on which the pilot would start. The pilot areas are within the wards of Daresbury, Grange, Heath, Halton Castle, Broadheath, Hough Green and Halton View.

Cost

According to council minutes, the cost of running the six month pilot will be £63,700.

The scheme involves collection vehicles being fitted with weighing equipment - to measure the amount of material each household is recycling - and will also see bins tagged with identification devices, which allow RecycleBank to log householders' addresses and tally Recycling Reward points.

RecyleBank has identified Irish firm AMCS Environmental, which has worked with RecycleBank on projects in the US, as its preferred partner to carry out the fitting of the on-board weighing equipment for the collection vehicles and also the retrofitting of devices to bins involved in the Halton pilot.

The system will operate on a voluntary ‘opt-in' system when it is launched.