DETR looking for the best in household waste reduction and recycling

“We’re trying to find all the schemes that are out there in the UK. Then we will compile a list for the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) that will recommend which schemes to use in pilot programmes,” Ed Perry, of the Babtie Group, told edie. Foreign schemes that have succeeded in reducing household waste are also of interest.
“We’re interested in programmes that go beyond your basic kerbside recycling scheme,” says Perry. Babtie will compile a list of the types of schemes in operation and will analyse them according to their environmental and cost benefits. From there, DETR will choose one or two schemes to pilot.
“We’re trying to tease out all the schemes to get a national perspective,” says Perry. Many such programmes depend on either incentives or penalties to increase household participation in waste recycling or reduction. These include:

• deposit systems
• supermarket reward points for recycling
• charging for disposal bags
• smaller bins
• composting awards

Babtie’s project will not look at direct charging schemes or general waste education campaigns.
Anyone with information on relevant programmes should get in contact with Ed Perry by 7 December in order to feed into the preliminary report to DETR. In addition, an edie internet discussion group has been set up to gather ideas, examples and talk about household waste reduction successes and failures. To access it, visit edie’s speaker’s corner.