The London borough of Bexley has become the first local authority to launch an incentive scheme organised by Local Green Points which aims to reward residents on a community basis for waste reduction and recycling.
The South East London council formally launched the first phase of the incentives initiative on Monday (October 3), covering 2,000 flats in the East Thamesmead area of the borough. The scheme could be rolled out to all 15,000 flats borough-wide next year.
Run by Local Green Points, the Bexley scheme is termed London Green Points, and sees residents offered money-off vouchers at local retailers when they activate their membership of the scheme online. At present, 30 local retailers are signed up to the scheme.
Residents also earn green points as a community based on the amount of residual waste they create and the amount they recycle. These points are then allocated equally between each member of the community who is taking place in the scheme, and can then be redeemed online, via the Local Green Points website, to pay for eco-friendly products.
Alternatively, residents can chose to donate their accumulated points to one of three local charities which have been chosen as beneficiaries of the scheme by community leaders in Bexley.
The scheme is run by Local Green Points, which is backed by rewards company Green Rewards as well as environmental communications agency EnviroComms and consultancy group Resources and Waste Advisory Group.
letsrecycle.com first revealed that Bexley was considering working with Local Green Points in December 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story), and the council then secured funding from the London Waste and Recycling Board to go ahead with the trial in March 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Self-funding
Commenting on the funding of over 107,000 received from LWaRB, Graham Simmonds, co-founder and managing director of Local Green Points, told letsrecycle.com: Our aim is that its self-funding but because its the first of its kind the LWaRB money will cover some of the set-up costs and costs of running the scheme.
He said support to cover costs had also come from the Recycle for London communications campaign, from Bexley council and from Gallions Housing Association, which owns and manages flats in Bexley.
Mr Simmonds said that the long-term plan for the scheme to be financing would be based on the green points being funded by some of the savings the council has achieved from landfill diversion and additional income earned from recycling.
But, he explained that the exact level of reward which could be fed back to residents would depend on exactly how much waste was reduced or recycled, and therefore how much the council was saving.
People will only earn points if theres a reduction in residual waste and an increase in recycling. There cant just be a reduction in waste. Bexley council will only be able to offer Green Points if it saves money or its not going to be viable, he said.
What we need to do at the end of the first quarter is sit down with Bexley council and see how much we can put back into the fund for households. Weve intentionally left it a bit flexible to see how the first quarter has gone.
He added: We dont think its going to be a huge amount of money so were trying to get householders to get the right expectations.
RecycleBank
Mr Simmonds emphasised what he said were the differences between Local Green Points offering and that made by RecycleBank the most high-profile recycling rewards scheme to be launched in the UK to date. Other schemes include Nectar which is involved with Birmingham city council.
RecycleBank is primarily about vouchers, we also have green rewards theres quite a lot of difference between ours and RecycleBank, he said.
In particular, he stressed the local aspect, with rewards being measured on a community basis.
I think our scheme is very much about the local level, supporting local communities, small local shops that dont always get asked to sign up to these kind of schemes, he said.
The whole way we measure in a local level is about building a sense of community and local pride. Its about localism and building community cohesion.
Future plans
Commenting on future plans for Local Green Points, Mr Simmonds claimed that, while the scheme was being used for flats in Bexley, the model could work with houses on a community basis.
Were talking to around 10 different authorities at the moment, with a broad range in terms of the type of areas, he said.
And, while he did not reveal an exact number of schemes the company was aiming for, he added: We set ourselves internal targets but were keen to have several schemes up and running by this time next year.
Bexley council
Councillor Gareth Bacon, Bexleys Cabinet member for the environment, said he was delighted that Bexley was the first council in the country to adopt the scheme
Were proud that Bexley is already Londons top borough for recycling with a recycling rate over 50%. However we recognise that we can still do more and see the London Green Points scheme as an excellent way to encourage even more people to recycle more waste, as well as helping to build community cohesion.
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