England’s biggest council is to trial a recycling scheme offering Nectar points to incentivise paper waste collections.
Birmingham City Council is to run the pilot with 4,500 homes in the Bournville and Erdington areas and residents will receive 25 points every time paper recycling containers are put out for collection. The points can then be redeemed at a range of stores, including Argos, Homebase and Sainsbury’s.
The scheme will run from September until March. Eligible residents will be sent barcode stickers to be affixed to their bins. These are then scanned by refuse collectors when the bins are picked up.
Council cabinet member for transport, environment and regeneration Timothy Huxtable said: “This is a real win-win project for all. The more that people recycle, not only will they be helping to save the environment, but the more opportunity they will get to reward themselves.”
Nectar client development director Will Shuckburgh said: “Using Nectar points to reward residents for environmentally friendly behaviour is a great initiative and we’re excited to be working with Birmingham City Council to implement this scheme, ultimately hoping to make the city a greener place.
“Many people may already be recycling so by signing up to the new initiative they will be rewarded with points to spend on a range of treats for relatively little extra effort.
As well as earning points when they recycle, residents in Erdington will also be able to earn points every time they take part in leisure activities at Erdington Leisure Centre.
It is hoped the scheme will be extended to reach 400,000 homes across the city.
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