Can scratch cards save the planet?

By Hannah Goff
BBC News Website

Scratch cards, prize draws and discount vouchers are to be offered in scores of new schemes to get people recycling more of their rubbish.

But can bribing people with the chance to win really cut the amount of junk thrown into landfill sites. Or is this just an untested gamble?

Many people do not realise that recycling can cut global warming

You've got to be in it to win it - is the theory behind the latest bid to get more householders recycling.

Around 50 councils across England are running catchy promotions, perhaps more at home in a casino than a town hall.

Lancashire County Council is giving each of 100,000 householders in the scheme's area a chance to win instant money prizes on free scratch cards.

And primary school children in the county and neighbouring Cumbria will be rewarded with an MP3 player for getting the most recycling pledges in their school from friends and family.

Lancashire's waste minimisation officer Andrew Coombe says they are "unashamedly using pester power" and borrowing from the big retailers to get more households aboard the recycling ship.

"We've seen the success of Tesco's Computers for Schools and similar Walkers promotions, well if it works for them why not for recycling?

"The science is not new it's just the way it's being applied."

Any creative policy is a good thing but we are messing around at the edges and not really getting down to the real issue Anna Watson Friends of the Earth

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is to use text messages to remind forgetful recyclers to put their green boxes out once a month.

And everyone who registers their mobile phone numbers will have the chance to win a £500 cash prize in a monthly lottery.

This cash element, the council hopes, will attract people previously not bothering to recycle.

East Riding's senior sustainable development officer for waste Matthew Lewer admits the idea, funded through a £10,000 government grant, is completely untested.

Pester power

But he says there is evidence text messaging is a good way to get through to people.

"We could have printed up 2,000-odd leaflets but whether any one would look at them - I don't know."

Actor Dave Spikey is backing the pledge card scheme

Friends of the Earth (FOE) waste campaigner Anna Watson would love to get a text message reminder.

Even as a committed recycler she sometimes forgets to put out the recycling box, mainly because of the infrequency of collections.

"Any creative policy is a good thing but we are messing around at the edges and not really getting down to the real issue.

"If we change the system we will get something that is a lot more effective."

FOE has been campaigning for a pay as you throw charge with those who recycle more and throw out less paying a smaller council tax.

But this would require a change in the law and the government seems unwilling to move in this direction.

Ms Watson: "There has been reams of research showing what happens in other countries when you introduce variable charging. It radically reduces the amount people throw out."

Packaging problem

In September, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said householders were recycling a fifth of their waste. This is up 6% on 2003-4, Defra says.

But that still means four fifths is going into landfill sites - at huge cost to local authorities which are charged £150 per tonne over their statutory limit.

Environment minister Ben Bradshaw says: "In order to maintain the momentum and achieve further substantial increases in recycling new approaches are needed to actively engage with the public."

Four fifths of England's rubbish is buried in landfill sites

Environmental campaigner, and author of Saving the Planet Without Costing the Earth, Donnachadh McCarthy says the government has only been forced into action by the European Union.

Although he acknowledges many new council schemes are beginning to take effect, he wants non-recyclers educated on the benefits of recycling in tackling global warming.

"If people knew it took ten times the amount of energy to manufacture a new aluminium can as it does recycle an old one they might be more likely to recycle it."

Message lost

But for Mr McCarthy it is only the introduction of fines for those who do not bother to recycle that will ensure the war on waste will be won.

However industry needs to play its part too, he says.

The UK throws away an estimated 4.5 million tonnes in packaging waste yearly, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme.

Much of this is made of non-recyclable materials which councils have no choice but to throw into landfill.

Although some supermarkets use some biodegradable packaging and fully compostable GM-free packages this being the norm is a long way off.

Elizabeth Hartigan, of the Women's Environmental Network, said: "It's a matter of getting people to change their behaviour.

"If people aren't picking up the public message that it's necessary to reduce their waste - then may be incentives are needed until we reach a stage when people do."