Incentive schemes funded or part funded by a £3.5 million Defra grant have resulted in millions being encouraged to recycle.
53 pilot schemes were run by local authorities across the country to test a variety of approaches to encourage residents to reduce, re-use and recycle their waste.
Individual prizes such as cash, cars and holidays were offered in some schemes, whilst in others, communities were rewarded with funding for local initiatives and improvements.
The tonnage of recyclables collected increased in over half of the pilot areas, while in others the contamination rates for recyclables were reduced considerably. Other incentive pilots targeted waste reduction by encouraging reuse. Some trials led to recycling community champions and a range of voluntary community groups.
Environment Minister, Ben Bradshaw, said:
“We’ve trebled recycling since 1997 – but we’re going to have to do much better still if we are to tackle climate change and avoid huge fines for breaking European landfill limits. We are all going to have to change our behaviour radically and these incentive schemes show it’s possible.”
He continued, “The pilots looked at a number of incentives geared towards specific barriers: recycling the wrong things, not recycling at all, using local services such as bottle banks more frequently.
By the deadline for funding submissions on 1 July 05, Defra had received 94 applications for support under the household incentive pilot schemes, many from partnerships of authorities. There was a good spread of bids and applications covered a range of minimisation, recycling and composting schemes, with rewards going to both individuals and the wider community.
The proposals tested the value of incentives on a whole range of different target populations, ranging from villages to high-rise estates, and from the highest performers (where the focus is on waste minimisation and on reducing contamination in recycling collections) to the lowest (where the focus is on encouraging more people to recycle). In total 100 districts and boroughs have been involved in the pilots, as well as community groups and private sector organisations.
Some of the highlights included:
Schools
Schools in County Durham competed against one another to recycle the most waste on a ‘league table’ basis. The top recycling schools were awarded equipment for schools such as laptops. The tonnage of recycled waste collected in the area increased by 13%.
The right materials
In Hampshire, residents who recycled properly and put the right waste in the right bins were rewarded with vouchers to local attractions as an incentive. The result was a 50% reduction in the number of households putting the wrong materials in their recycling bins.
Prizes
The most popular schemes were those that offered lottery-style prize draws. In Exeter, one lucky resident won an environmentally friendly car.
The Government is looking at a range of options to help the UK meet tough European targets to divert more waste away from landfill.
Higher recycling rates will go a long way to achieving those targets. Local authorities already have powers to offer incentives for households that recycle and to require householders to separate their waste for recycling.
The results of all the pilots are published on the Defra website today at:
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/localauth/encourage.htm