Bexley in talks to trial RecycleBank alternative

The London borough of Bexley is in talks to roll-out a rewards-based recycling scheme that has emerged as a rival to RecycleBank, letsrecycle.com can reveal.

The local authority is in discussions with a company called Local Green Points about running a trial in Thamesmead in South East London. The system would work on the same basic principle as the American rewards-based system RecycleBank but is geared more towards community benefits.

The London borough of Bexley confirmed it had been in talks over trialling the scheme but did not wish to say anything further. It is understood that the project is dependent on procuring London Waste and Recycling Board funding in order to proceed.

Local Green Points, which declined to comment on its involvement in Bexley, is a scheme devised by recycling incentives company Green Rewards, social marketing firm Envirocomms and the environmental consultancy Resources and Waste Advisory (RWA) Group.

The scheme is said to be geared towards waste prevention and reduction, as well as community, rather than individual rewards.

And, although details of the proposed trial remain vague at present, Local Green Points did use the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee conference in Liverpool last month to outline how the scheme works and how it differs from other incentive-based schemes.

The scheme is intended to reward participants in the form of discounts or full payments for eco-products, free or discounted entrance to council-owned amenities and also take into account collective actions – such as the recycling or waste reduction performance of a housing estate. However, no reward partners for the scheme have yet been named.

Process

Local Green Points works on the principle of material being weighed to take in order to take into account the levels of recycling or reduction in waste put into the residual bin. However, it does not require new infrastructure – such as RFID tags, new collection rounds or specific wheeled bins – to be introduced for it to operate.

In a similar vein to RecycleBank, the system is funded through the savings accrued by the council from avoided costs of the landfill disposal. The scheme does require an initial start-up fee to fund its installation. However, the firm insists it becomes self-funding within 24 months.

Green Rewards – the parent scheme to Local Green Points – was name-checked as a viable incentive scheme for London local authorities at a meeting of the London Assembly environment committee earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story).

The emergence of the potential roll-out of the scheme in Bexley comes in the same week that the London borough of Lambeth became the first London council to commit to exploring the introduction of RecycleBank, which it will look to use on its estates.