06/10/2005

Residents offered incentives to recycle

Millions of householders across England will be offered rewards to encourage more recycling, it has been announced.

The government has announced plans to launch 51 pilot schemes across the country, in order to test and assess various approaches to incentivise people to recycle and reduce waste.

Under the schemes, some local authorities will offer personal rewards for regular recycling, such as cash awards, prizes and discount vouchers for shopping and local leisure facilities, while others will trial schemes such as recycling lotteries, league tables, text messages, scratch cards.

In some cases, schools and charities will be rewarded for increased recycling, while in others, local communities will benefit with cash for local schemes and improvements.

Announcing the scheme, Local Environmental Quality Minister, Ben Bradshaw, said: “Getting people to change their behaviour is a challenge, and recycling is no exception. 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.”

The results from the pilot studies will be used to provide an evidence base for future policy development in the area of recycling, as well as to provide guidance to local authorities on best practice.

Mr Bradshaw said the work was vital to ensure that current momentum to increase recycling was not lost. He said: “In the past nine years, recycling in England has tripled from 7.5% to nearly 23% in 2004/05 and has doubled in the last four years alone.

“In order to maintain the momentum and achieve further substantial increases in recycling, new approaches are needed to actively engage with the public.”

(KMcA)


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