Conservatives propose payment for recycling

The Conservative Party has outlined a plan to use cash incentives to encourage people to recycle more waste.

Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, presented the proposals last week to the Green Alliance, calling it a ‘carrots instead of sticks’ approach.

Citing a similar scheme in the US, where households are paid up to £25 per month to recycle, Osborne contrasted the initiative to Labour’s ‘pay as you throw’ plans that penalised citizens with punitive taxes for not recycling.

Osborne was keen to highlight the potential benefits of the scheme for poorer households, who at the moment recycle a lot less than average.

Local councils will be consulted regarding the proposals, which would not put taxpayers out of pocket because the payment for recycling comes from money saved by sending less to landfill.

The Green Alliance are pleased with the proposals, but a spokesperson warned that the incentives would need to be implemented carefully to prevent people from deliberately buying products with the most packaging so that they would get more money from recycling.

Although using incentives have worked well in the US, increasing recycling rates by up to 200%, countries with the highest recycling rates such as Switzerland and Ireland tend to use punitive schemes where households have to buy special bags to throw away rubbish.