Council offers rewards for recycling in pilot scheme

The council says the scheme works on the principle of ‘the more you recycle, the more you earn’ and gives residents the opportunity to sign up for RecycleBank reward points based on the amount they recycle and divert from landfill.

The points can then be used to buy goods and services from shops, like Marks and Spencer, or can be donated to charity.

The scheme, based on the successful rewards programme run by RecycleBank in the USA where it serves one million residents, will be piloted initially for three months with the council’s green waste collection before being expanded to mixed recycling.

Liam Maxwell, councillor for sustainability, said: “The pilot gives us an excellent opportunity to test a system that rewards residents and reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill.

“It also supports our local economy by promoting borough shops and businesses alongside big international names like M&S and Legoland.”

Some 55 national and local shops and businesses have signed up to be reward partners, including the Magnet and Windsor Leisure Centres, Subway, Pizza Hut, The Tree Council’s Tree Warden Scheme, Strok’s restaurant and Bar and Wren’s Club.

Luke Walsh