The details emerged after Mr Morley said earlier this month that his officials are looking at “different ways of charging for domestic waste”.
Options under consideration, in what the minister sees as “a tricky area”, include the idea that people who recycle and separate material should benefit. This is unlikely to be in the form of a direct cash payment, but some kind of points rewards scheme – similar to supermarket loyalty schemes – could be introduced, or residents might get a credit against their council tax.
Timing of the trials is still to be revealed, but Defra is thought to want to get them underway later this year in a variety of types of local authorities.
The idea of providing financial “carrots” or “sticks” to urge householders to recycle has been touted for many years as a possibility to further exploit the household waste stream to increase recycling rates. The government said it would look into some form of incentive or variable charging system as part of its announcements responding to the Strategy Unit review last year.
The Republic of Ireland is already introducing variable charging systems for household waste. From January 2005, all councils there are to set up schemes to charge householders for the amount of non-recyclable waste they produce (see letsrecycle.com story).
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