Prizes 'encourage more recycling'
August 8, 2006
More people are recycling their rubbish because they are being offered prizes such as money, cars and holidays to do so, according to the government.
It said such inducements, together with extra funding for local schemes, had helped raise the amount of recyclables collected in half of UK regions.
Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw said recycling had improved but more needed to be done to tackle climate change.
And Friends of the Earth said the UK still lagged behind other EU countries.
Schemes to encourage recycling have been funded by a £3.5m grant from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
More than 50 pilot projects were also run by local authorities to examine ways of convincing people to reduce, re-use and recycle the waste that they produce.
Individual prizes were offered in some schemes, while in others communities were rewarded with funding for local initiatives and improvements.
This resulted in more recycling in some areas, together with a reduction in contamination from waste in others.
The government said it was happy with the improvements but acknowledged more needed to be done.
Mr 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."
The increase in recycling was welcomed by the Friends of the Earth but the pressure group warned much more needed to be done to catch up with other European countries.
Mike Childs, campaigns director at Friends of the Earth, said: "This is very good news that the reward system is working.
"But we still have some of the poorest recycling rates in Europe, and so the government has to look at ways of encouraging people to recycle more.
"This may involve charging people for the amount of rubbish they produce but providing them with a free recycling service."
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