Residents in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, who don't have access to a wheelie bin, will now have recycling rewards available to them in a "UK first" scheme. Working with partners RecycleBank and Veolia Environmental Services, the Royal Borough has found a practical way of ensuring all homes have the opportunity to take part in the RecycleBank scheme by the end of January 2011 - meeting the council's target for full participation.
Sue Igoe, UK managing director of RecycleBank explained: "Once households have activated their accounts, residents will inform RecycleBank each week that they have recycled either online, by phone or through a free app on their Blackberry or iPhone. This is a great step forward for RecycleBank and Veolia, which will directly address a crucial issue of how we reward residents in areas where there
isn't access to an individual wheelie bin."
Residents in RBWM will receive a bonus for activating their account of 300 points. Coca-Cola Great Britain is helping to deliver the reward scheme with RecycleBank by sponsoring the activation bonus. Residents will also be able to redeem the Coca-Cola reward voucher upon activation for £1 off any Coca-Cola,
diet Coke or Coke Zero product.
Points will then be allocated to participating residents based on an equal share of the total amount recycled within the area. Points will be deposited into members' accounts and can then be redeemed for more than 100 rewards at national and local businesses within the Borough.
Paul Levett, deputy CEO, of Veolia Environmental Services said: "The solution enables RecycleBank rewards to be made available to residents who don't have their own individual wheelie bin - including those who live in flats with communal recycling facilities, narrow streets which are inaccessible to refuse collection vehicles or older properties where there is not enough bin storage space."
Cllr Liam Maxwell, lead member for sustainability for the Royal Borough, said: "Rewards for recycling is proving a huge success with our residents. The council is determined that everyone should have access to the rewards scheme if they wish, irrespective of the technical difficulties posed by flats and by the many narrow streets of our historic towns.
"This new community option gives residents the power to participate by reporting their own recycling efforts and being rewarded with points that can be redeemed for special-offer and discount vouchers in the normal way. The scheme fits perfectly with the ideals of the Big Society, giving people more control over the services they use and, in this instance, benefitting from valuable rewards for recycling."