English householders could win thousands by recycling

The government today launched its bid to trial financial incentives to encourage householders around the country to recycle more of their waste.

” While there are millions of dedicated recyclers, there are still many families and people who have yet to start recycling regularly.“
– Ben Bradshaw
Defra is funding 51 trials – worth a total of 3.5 million – to test various approaches for rewarding people who recycle their waste.

The government had said previously that up to 5 million would be available for the trials, but a Defra spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com it was decided after assessing bids that the full amount would not be needed.

Benefit
Schemes named today may benefit individual household recyclers themselves or local schools, communities and charities.

Among those being trialled include schemes using cash rewards, prizes and discount vouchers for shopping or local leisure facilities. There will also be recycling lotteries, league tables and scratch-card schemes trialled.

Householders in the Tees Valley could win a 3,000 holiday on their scheme, while recyclers in South Oxfordshire could win back their Council Tax. Communities in the Cornish borough Restormel will compete in a recycling league to win 10,000 (list of projects on page 2).

The top prize in the draw being run by Exeter city council is a 12,000 car, which the council says will be an “environmentally-friendly” model.

The results from the pilot studies announced today will provide an evidence base for future policy development in this area, Defra said, and will provide guidance to local authorities on best practice.

Momentum
Minister for environmental quality Ben Bradshaw said the new approaches were needed to achieve further substantial increases in recycling by actively engaging with the public.

Mr Bradshaw said: “While there are millions of dedicated recyclers, there are still many families and people who have yet to start recycling regularly. We want to find new ways to encourage these people to start recycling and help regular recyclers by making it easier for them to fit recycling into their lives.”

Defra is hoping that financial “carrots” like the schemes now on trial will be enough to make recycling a more common activity for householders, rather than resorting to “sticks” to force householders to recycle – although this is something being considered as part of the government's waste strategy review (see letsrecycle.com story).

A list of projects can be found on page 2: