Recycling Rewards

Can someone please pass this onto the powers that be?  I hate to do the 1001 comparisons between Canada and the UK but there is one thing in Canada that I really like.  This morning my mum put her bins out…she has two; one for rubbish and the other for recycling.  In the UK, I have 5 bins; one for rubbish, one for compost, one for glass, one for paper and one for tins.  Our drive barely has enough room for a car.  Trying to remember which week is which and forever being stuck behind the Lorries drives me mad!

The reason why she only has two bins is because….

Everyone pays a deposit on bottles and tins, approximately 10 cents per can/bottle.  It does vary.  Some may panic and see it as another tax but in fact if you get off your lazy arse and take the recycling back you get your money back.  We always use the money to buy more beer!  I think it’s fantastic that people are being rewarded for doing good.  I honestly think more people would engage in recycling if we had a similar incentive.

When we were kids it wasn’t uncommon to have bottle drives to fundraise for sports teams etc.  You would knock on people’s door and they would gladly part with their empties.  Plus, if you’re in town and don’t want to litter you can put your tin beside a bin and a homeless person will take it.  It’s a win win for everyone!

I’m not sure how heavily subsidized the program is but I think it’s worth a look into.  My hubby is absolutely gob smacked with the program.  The first time he took the bottles back he gave them the recycling and walked away.  Boy, was he surprised when they called him back and gave him some cash.  I think it was the highlight of his trip!

Author: mediocremum

A slightly older mum of one, who drinks far too much red wine and has an unhealthy obsession with her slow cooker. During the day she's an ICT Trainer, Social Media/Online Marketing consultant and does a bit of public speaking. Full Profile on Google+

13 thoughts on “Recycling Rewards”

  1. Where I live (Surrey, British Columbia), we can also call the city council and, 3 times a year, get them to pick up "oversize items" for the garbage dump. A great way to get rid of old settees, mattresses, whatever, for not extra cost and without illegal dumping.

  2. We in Herefordshire have two bins too – one for recycling, the other for everything else. The recycling is everything – glass, tins, cardboard, paper, plastic bottles and containers. It's collected fortnightly and goes to a sorting centre near Evesham; the rubbish bin is a bog, standard dustbin, still collected every week. This ought to be the story of all rubbish collection in the UK, but of course it cost money to set up…

  3. There is so much rubbish where I live and it's mostly drinks cans and bottles. The streets would be a lot cleaner if you got a deposit back. I lived in Toronto for a while and was amazed at how good the recycling was – even the bins on the street had different sections for cans, paper etc.

  4. Same here in the States, of course. But speaking of lazy arse – we put ours in with the other recycleables that get picked up at the curb as part of our service. I'd hate to see the total of what that would've added up to. Cost of convenience, I guess.

  5. that used to happen in my childhood I remember, you used to get money back for the bottles! Very good idea, on another point, my mum in London puts everything in one box and doesn't need to sort paper and tins etc. grrrrrrr

  6. The county 10 yards over the road has one bin for all recycling and they sort it, we have an assortment of bins, boxes, bags and general faffiness and a big fly tipping problem – makes you wonder if making things simpler (as well as financially rewarding) makes us more likely to participate

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