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Recycling waste - goodbye stick, hello carrot
7th June 2010
The proposal for a pay as you throw charge for collecting household waste is being abandoned by the new government as they turn instead to positive incentives for people to increase recycling rates. This BBC news article provides the background. Gradually the percentage of household waste that is being recycled after collection is rising.
But there are enormous differences in recycle rates across the country and also variations in what is being collected. According to the article, almost 37% of home rubbish was recycled in England in 2008/09 - up from 34.5% the previous year and a massive increase since 2000/01 when only 11.2% was recycled - the top performer was 62% in Staffordshire Moorlands compared to just 15% in Newham, London.
Will rewards instead of charges nudge people into making changes to their behaviour? Positive rewards within a voluntary system seems to have worked well in my local borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Can it be rolled out across the country? Beware the law of unintended consequences!
Remember though that recycling is just one part of this issue. Cutting the amount of waste in the first place is hugely important and here both consumers and producers have important roles to play.
On the Daily Politics show Giles Dilnot reports on plans to end the bin tax
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.