Recycling rewards scheme kicks off in South Wales

A recycling incentive scheme which could potentially rival US rewards-based recycling scheme RecycleBank has been launched in South Wales.

Sort & Save, which was jointly developed by Pencoed-based waste management firm Siteserv Recycling and Rhondda Cynon Taf county borough council, enables residents and local businesses to bring recyclable material to a dedicated recycling facility in exchange for financial rewards.

The Sort & Save site at Glyncoch in the east of the county was opened last week (November 9) at an official ceremony attended by Welsh national rugby team coach and former All Blacks international Warren Gatland, as well as representatives from Sort & Save and Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The scheme is open to residents and local businesses and is designed to sit alongside the Green Glyncoch initiative, which Rhondda launched in October 2009 in a bid to make Glyncoch the country's first ‘zero waste' village (see letsrecycle.com story).

Councillor Anthony Christopher, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for frontline services, said: “The council is committed to making Green Glyncoch a success and with the total support of all residents we can make this project a reality. But it does need the commitment of everyone involved and that is why we hope residents will follow the very simple everyday practices of how to dispose of their waste.”

Sort & Save has developed a second site at Llandow in the Vale of Glamorgan, although this does not have council involvement as yet.

Scheme

Participants have to sign up to the ‘Sort & Save' scheme, which is free of charge, and then have material collected and weighed at the Sort & Save site. Points are then awarded in relation to market value which can be issued as financial payout to the customer or donated to local schools or sport initiatives.

Unlike other rewards schemes, such as the kerbside scheme RecycleBank, there is no upper limit to the amount of points one signatory can obtain.

A spokeswoman for Sort & Save said that it was expected residents would earn between £100 and £200 “if they recycle regularly” and confirmed that the money for the items would be paid by Sort & Save and not the council.

The spokeswoman added that Sort & Save would hope to build on the Glyncoch and Llandow sites by expanding further into Wales. She said: “Depending on the success of the existing sites it is hoped that Sort & Save will be able to be rolled out across the country.”

Opening the site, Sort & Save managing director, Nigel England, said: “We believe that this is the first scheme of its kind in Wales and if it is successful we intend to roll it out across the country. We hope that this scheme will only enable customers to recycle but also benefit local community groups through our points system.”

Vale of Glamorgan

The spokeswoman confirmed that Sort & Save is currently negotiating with Vale of Glamorgan council to enable it to have material collected at the Llandow site count towards the local authority's waste and recycling rate. And, it added that future Sort & Save developments would seek to include council involvement from the outset.

Commenting on the initiative, Miles Punter, head of visible services at Vale of Glamorgan, told letsrecycle.com: “We are aware of a new recycling company who are seeking to set up business in Llandow and this matter is currently progressing through the council's planning process. We are not working with this company.”

However, Mr Punter praised the work of the company. He said: “Any private company that assists in diverting domestic or commercial waste away from landfill should be commended. We have no concerns with any such companies detracting from the recycling efforts of our residents.”