Coventry to launch recycling incentive scheme

The project will be supported by three recycling champions who the council will employ to work with residents in low performing recycling areas in a bid to increase participation.

The scheme is different to traditional reward schemes such as the RecycleBank scheme in Windsor and Maidenhead which records and rewards recycling based on individual household performance.

In Coventry, residents who sign up the scheme, will be rewarded based on the increase in the overall amount of waste recycled across the city. The council said this approach is more cost effective and avoids retrofitting around 360,000 bins.

The council said the incentive scheme will be similar to reward schemes such as Tescos Clubcard or Nectar points. Householders and students in halls of residence who register for it will receive points which can be redeemed at local and national retailers.

The baseline on which the improved recycling tonnage is measured on will be agreed with the rewards partner. The council will go out to tender soon for a rewards partner, with the scheme expected to be launched in summer 2013.

Costs

The project is being funded by 1.025 million from the Department for Communities and Local Governments (DCLG) weekly collection support scheme (see letsrecycle.com story).

Funding will be spread over three years. The council will receive 205,000 for 2012/13, 410,000 for 2013/14 and 410,000 for 2014/15. The costs of procuring a recycling rewards scheme are expected to be 310,000 per year.

Commenting on the project, Cllr Lindsley Harvard, cabinet member for city services, said offering rewards on a community basis rather than individual performance is a simpler and cheaper option for the council.

He said: This scheme is unique because the rewards will be based upon the collective recycling/composting performance of the city as a whole. This simplifies the administration of the scheme and avoids the need for extra costs to fit barcodes or identity chips on bins.

Under the terms of the funding, the council must maintain a weekly collection of residual waste for the next five years. At present, dry recyclables are collected on a fortnightly basis, as is garden waste.

Champions

In a bid to promote recycling and the incentive scheme, the council will employ three recycling champions for five years to work with low performing recycling areas in the city. The provision of three full time employees is expected to cost the council 100,000 per year.

The council said the main role of these employees would be to establish a network of community champions for recycling and waste minimisation who will help residents to make better use of the existing services provided. It is hoped their work will increase the recycling rate of Coventry by a further one percentage point. In 2011/12 Coventry recycled and composted 37.2% of its waste.

As the funding is spread over three years, the council will pay for the champions in the final two years which it said will come from savings made in the first three years of the scheme by diverting waste from landfill or energy recovery.