Recycle Bank

Back in 2005, EnviroComms' Stephen Bates and Mark Hughes were guests at the National Recycling Coalition of North America's Congress in Minneapolis. There, they were introduced to a fledgling company called Recycle Bank who had developed a system of rewarding households in relation to the amount they recycle.

Households simply placed their recycling in a single wheeled bin (or "cart" as they say in the US!). When it's collected, the cart is weighed and households earn Recycle Bank Points in relation to the weight of the recycling. This can then be redeemed at participating companies from big supermarkets to the small local hairdressers. There's no cost to the council, Recycle Bank earning their money from the savings in landfill fees.

"We looked at bringing them to the UK back then" explains Stephen, "but the timing wasn't right. The UK waste industry was undergoing a major change and this needed to settle first. At the LARAC conference last year, the subject of direct charging was a major talking point and we felt that the time was perhaps right to revisit Recycle Bank in the UK. We contacted them and found that they were thinking exactly the same thing!"

"The first thing we had to do was make sure that councils could implement the scheme. Doing so requires a more commercial attitude than many authorities are used to and aligning with commercial partners is often something avoided. We took the concept to DEFRA and they gave us the green light".

Since then, EnviroComms have explained the concept to around 40 local authorities and gained a fantastic response. Several districts have been identified as suitable to run pilot schemes and these will be announced in the autumn.

If you would like further information on Recycle Bank, please contact Stephen Bates or click here

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