Recycle for your community
The Gloucestershire Waste Partnership (GWP) is launching a new innovative pilot scheme to reward communities for recycling more.
The GWP councils are committed to increasing the combined recycling and composting level in the county to at least 60% by 2020, and although considerable progress has been made to date, more needs to be done.
One new approach, which is to be trialled in the county, is a community based recycling incentive scheme, which has been devised by the GWP councils.
Currently the county council pays credits to the district councils for recycled waste diverted from landfill. By recycling, rather than landfilling the waste, money is saved through reduced landfill tax and disposal costs. Some of the savings are then paid to the district councils, who collect the recycling, to help offset their collection costs.
From March to November 2012, the pilot communities of Whaddon, Springbank, Podsmead & Linden, Brockworth and Stonehouse will have the opportunity to take part in the trial. At the end of the nine-month period, any increase in recycling achieved above 2011's level will be rewarded by the local council who will divert their recycling credits into the community reward pot, for the benefit of the community project.
Early in 2012, the GWP councils asked the pilot communities to come forward with potential community projects for each area. The community will then be asked to decide which benefitting project they would like to adopt.
The GWP has been awarded £38,500 by the government’s Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) through its Household Reward and Recognition Fund for Recycling and Reuse.
This fund has been set-up by the government to investigate the role that rewards and recognition can play in increasing recycling and reuse. This funding will be used by GWP over the two-year project mainly to carry out research to evaluate the success of the community recycling initiative.
We are conducting community recycling projects in the following areas of the county:
Please visit your community page to find out more.
13 January 2012
