Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead rewards homeowners for recycling

(31/03/2010)

Landfill tax will reach £48 per tonne in April and will continue to rise at a rate of £8 per tonne in subsequent years, so it is imperative that more households are encouraged to recycle and to increase their recycling efforts so that waste to landfill continues to decrease.

The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has become the first local authority in the UK to adopt a full, borough-wide rewards for recycling scheme. From July, 60,000 households in the area will be eligible to join the RecycleBank initiative.

Following a successful pilot implemented by Veolia Environmental Services, more than 6,500 households were invited to help test the scheme last year, with residents earning RecycleBank Reward Points for their recycling efforts. Since then:
* 70% of eligible households have activated their rewards accounts
* More than five million RecycleBank Points have been earned for discounts and offers
* Over 100 reward partners on board including shops, leisure centres, businesses, attractions and cafés/restaurants; many residents have also given their Points to charities and schools
* Recycling tonnages in the participating households have increased by at least 35%

The Royal Borough’s cabinet has given the go-ahead for a borough-wide roll out, descibed by Cllr Liam Maxwell – lead member for policy and performance – as a major breakthrough for encouraging people to change their recycling habits. He said: “We have been absolutely delighted by the response so far. The results have exceeded even our most optimistic expectations and I would like to thank our residents for helping the Royal Borough pioneer this exciting way of reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill.

“We have demonstrated that incentives help change behaviour. Incentives – not penalties – are the way forward and councils in other parts of the country are following the Royal Borough’s lead as they look for ways of helping residents change the way they dispose of waste and increase their recycling. The beauty of the rewards programme is that everyone wins – residents, local businesses, the council and, importantly, our environment.”

The concept is simple – the more people recycle the more rewards they earn. Special blue wheelie bins will be delivered to every home by Veolia Environmental Services and as residents in the pilot scheme have proven, recycling will get a lot simpler as cans, paper, glass and plastic bottles will go into the one bin – no more separating them into different boxes.

Run in partnership between RecycleBank and contractor Veolia Environmental Services, the rewards programme gives households the potential of earning, on average, up to £135 a year in discounts and special offers. The leading sponsor and reward partner is Marks and Spencer, while 78% of the still growing list of participating businesses are local to the area – giving the borough’s economy a welcome boost.

The scheme works by fitting electronic tags to the bins with the weight recorded by equipment in the collection vehicles. Residents are invited to participate in the RecycleBank scheme, and data is only collected at a household level where the resident has activated their RecycleBank account.

Cllr Maxwell added: “The pilot scheme showed that the technology and equipment are very reliable. The significant increase in recycling is proof that the scheme not only works but is popular with residents – and with the roll out taking place in phases from July, by this time next year all local households will be able to join in.”

In recent weeks, the RecycleBank reward scheme gained national recognition, being ‘Highly Commended’ in the LGC and Government Business Awards.

Related categories:  Environmental technologies for Residential and Green homes   Glass recycling   Metal recycling   Paper and cardboard recycling   Plastic recycling