Breckland residents will have an extra incentive to make sure they ‘recycle right’ this December, as the council recycling teams will be checking random bins and handing out £20 shopping vouchers to those who recycle correctly.
The scheme is called ‘Countdown to Christmas’ and on each recycling collection day throughout December, an area of the district will be chosen, recycling bins will be checked, and when a bin is found that has recycled everything correctly they will receive a surprise £20 shopping voucher.
Cllr Kay Fisher, Executive Member for Environmental Well Being, says: “We want people to put more of the right things in their bin. In the countdown to Christmas we will be reminding people of how much they can recycle in terms of packaging, leftovers, Christmas cards and wrapping paper.”
Kay adds: “We know that most of our residents do a great job with recycling but, in the build up to Christmas, good intentions can go out the window. This scheme will hopefully act as an incentive to remember to recycle and the extra cash is our way of saying thank you and keep up the good work.”
People can put paper, cardboard, aerosols, food tins and drinks cans in the black recycling bin for collection as well as all types of plastic bottles (without the lids).
Most of the plastic bottles collected in Norfolk are sold on to companies within the UK or Holland to make new plastic products. The quality of plastic needed is very high so putting the wrong plastic in your recycling bin can cause damage to the sorting process and can mean that whole loads are rejected. Breckland Council hope that in the future they will be able to recycle all sorts of plastic, but for now would like to remind people to keep it to plastic bottles only.
More details of what can and cannot be recycled in Breckland black recycling bins is on the Council website at
www.breckland.gov.uk or call a member of the Recycling Team for tips and advice on 01362 656878.