Earlier this year, Zero Waste Scotland launched innovative ‘Recycle and Reward’ pilot projects, with the aim of assessing the impact of offering an incentive for recycling. It’s important to say here that what we’re trying to do is understand how such incentive-based schemes might be received. Behind any potential new intervention there should be an evidence base to consider.

IKEA, Dundee University, and Whitmuir Organics are among the organisations that are trialling rewarding consumers for recycling their drinks containers through a range of incentives including money back, discount vouchers or charitable donations. The trials will run until the autumn and results will be used to inform the Scottish Government on the possible impacts of introducing such schemes nationally.

With kerbside recycling rates making commendable progress in recent years, jumping from only four per cent to over 40 per cent in just a decade, progress
must not be lost and any new schemes will need to work alongside existing services. As such, it is not anticipated that these deposit-return trials will divert materials away from more traditional methods of collection, but rather that they will capture those that fall outside of
those systems.

The ‘Recycle and Reward’ schemes being piloted target materials that are purchased and consumed away from the home – the majority of which hold a high value when segregated for recycling. In fact, the 22,000 tonnes of plastic drinks bottles we send to landfill each year in Scotland could be worth around £6 million to our economy.

Glass, aluminium cans and plastic bottles are all items that are commonly disposed of ‘on the go’, but they are worth nothing if sent to a hole in the ground or even littered on our streets.

Plastic bottles and cans have a recycling rate of less than 30 per cent in Scotland – compare this with recycling rates as high in 85 per cent in countries that run national deposit-return schemes, and it’s obvious that this is an idea worth exploring.

Germany offers an exemplary case of how deposit-return systems can coexist with kerbside recycling to offer a complete service. Introduced in 2003, its deposit-return system is aimed at plastics drinks containers consumed away from the home, and has a capture rate of 98.5 per cent of bottles that carry a deposit. This, combined with the Green Dot system – which supports collection of bottles at kerbside or bring sites – helps the country boast one of the highest recycling rates in Europe. Similar patterns are seen in other parts of the world, including in Scandinavia and Australia.

The examples and lessons observed from international experience have provided a solid foundation upon which to build our own trials. Key to this is not only increasing the volume of material collected, but also harnessing the best quality of material possible.

This is also in line with the need for a change in the way that waste is viewed in Scotland – moving from seeing it as something to be thrown away to realising it as a valuable resource. Offering an incentive for recycling could be one answer to this, assigning a tangible benefit that highlights the value – and could improve the quality of – materials and reduce contamination issues. Getting more high-quality material separated for recycling could help to strengthen the business case for reprocessing facilities in Scotland, keeping high-value materials in our economy and attracting investment and job creation.

The trials will be assessed at all stages, providing us with sound learning around consumer behaviour and acceptability, as well as likely impacts on quality, existing services and littering.

While it’s yet to be seen whether these systems could be a long-term answer to boosting recycling rates in Scotland, what’s clear from looking at the way these schemes engage with consumers elsewhere is that we need to consider fresh approaches to increasing the value collected from these materials. Interest in, and debate around, how we can collect materials is more than welcome.

Read Resource's overview of deposit schemes.

Read Jane Bickerstaffe's point of view on deposit schemes - 'Not so simple'.