Pilot scheme to reward recyclers goes live

Residents in parts of the borough of Windsor and Maidenhead will receive more vouchers if they recycle more waste.

The administrators of the scheme expect the average household to earn £130 worth of vouchers each year.

The RecycleBank will cover 3,750 households in the borough, with the vouchers redeemable at Marks & Spencer, local shops and restaurants or donated to charities.

Cllr Liam Maxwell, the borough’s Cabinet Member for Sustainability, said:

“We are making recycling much easier and rewarding our residents to maximise participation and reduce landfill.

“The appetite to recycle more is clearly there and using the carrot, not the stick, is our way of energising the community and bringing meaningful benefits to households and local businesses.

“The RecycleBank scheme is a pioneering step forward. We are proud to be the first in the UK and hope that other local authorities will follow our approach across the country.”

RecycleBank already runs many similar schemes in the US and earlier in the year, when this pilot was announced, edie caught up with the company president Matthew Tucker to discuss uptake there.

Sam Bond