23.08.11
Birmingham offers rewards for recycling
Birmingham City Council has decided that carrot is better than stick when it comes to encouraging recycling, and has launched a new scheme offering incentives for residents who do their bit.
The new initiative offers residents Nectar points, which can be redeemed for rewards at stores including Sainsbury’s, Homebase and Argos. Residents will get 25 points for every recycling collection, as they will get a bar-coded sticker scanned every time they put out their boxes for recycling.
The project will be trialled for six months, starting in September, in 5,000 homes in Bournville and Erdington. If successful, the scheme will be rolled out to 400,000 households around Birmingham.
In recent years there has been anger about council schemes that punish people for failing to recycle and manage their bins properly.
Nectar's managing director, Jan Pieter Lips, said rewarding residents was the way forward, explaining: “This is an innovative way for local authorities to reward residents for behaviour that benefits their community. We're excited about working with Birmingham City Council to reward its residents for greener and healthier behaviour.”
Birmingham City Council's cabinet member for transport, environment and regeneration, Timothy Huxtable, said: “Increasing public participation in recycling is a key objective for both the council and future of the city as a whole, so we are delighted to have teamed up with such a prominent partner as Nectar to promote this initiative.
“This is a win-win project for all, as the more people that recycle, not only will they be helping to save the environment but the more opportunity they will get to reward themselves.”
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