The London borough of Lambeth has unveiled plans which would make it the first council in the capital to adopt the US-devised rewards based recycling incentive scheme RecycleBank, as well as making it compulsory for householders to recycle.
The central London local authority is set to consider the proposals among a raft of potential waste and recycling policies at a cabinet meeting next Monday (November 22). The policies are intended to form the basis of a long-term waste strategy for the council, which, if agreed, would come into force in spring 2011.
The council claims that adopting all these proposals could potentially save it £600,000 per year off its existing £34 million waste disposal bill and help to boost its recycling rate, which is currently 27%, by at least a further 10%.
Commenting on the proposals, Councillor Lorna Campbell, cabinet member for environment on Lambeth council, said: “Reducing waste and increasing recycling is not just about helping the environment, it's about keeping costs down too as we will all be hit in the pocket if we don't act.”
“It's everybody's responsibility to think more carefully about what we buy, what we throw away, and whether we can re-use it. Taking personal responsibility is what our ‘Making a Difference' campaign is all about.”
The current waste contractor in Lambeth is Veolia Environmental Services, which was heavily involved in the roll-out of the RecycleBank scheme in the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Compulsory
A number of local authorities in London currently operate compulsory recycling schemes, with Brent and Harrow being notable examples. Lambeth claims that the method has been successful in changing residents' attitudes to waste in these areas.
The council has undertaken a survey of residents' views on compulsory recycling – which could see householders being landed with a £1,000 fine for persistently refusing to recycle – and claims that 70% of the 3,000 people polled supported the scheme.
Alongside this proposal, Lambeth councillors will also consider adopting the American initiative RecycleBank for its estates' residents. This method sees householders rewarded with discounts and vouchers for high street shops based on the amount of material they recycle.
To date the scheme has not been used on estates but in on-street properties in the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and in Halton in Cheshire. If Lambeth were to choose to adopt RecycleBank for its estates it would make it the first council in the capital to introduce the scheme.
RecycleBank has previously pinpointed London as an area in which it would seek to develop a pilot scheme, having received vocal support from London Mayor Boris Johnson and other leading Conservatives (see letsrecycle.com story).
At a London Assembly meeting earlier this month the Greater London Authority expressed support for incentive-based recycling schemes, such as RecycleBank, over the more punitive-based approach of compulsory recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
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