Spalding resident and Green Bag Lottery winner Susan Dean receiving her cash prize from a member of South Holland District Council’s waste team.

South Holland District Council in Lincolnshire has paid out £700 to residents for recycling correctly, as part of the council’s Green Bag Lottery.

Launched at the beginning of March, the lottery is a recycling rewards scheme that aims to encourage recycling and reward regular recyclers.

All households in the district are entered into the lottery, with 10 householders randomly selected every month. To win £100 in cash, these householders must have recycled three out of four weeks and have presented their recycling, put out in the council’s green sacks (or carrier bags), correctly (with no contaminants).

As well as receiving £100 cash for recycling correctly, every three months the winners are then put into a prize draw to win £1,000.

Seven households have this month won the £100 prize money, representing 70 per cent of the winners selected.

Four winners were from the Spalding area, with one from Weston, one from Saracen’s Head, and one from Gedney Drove End.

The remaining three winners selected – households in Gosberton, Deeping St Nicholas, and Whaplode – missed out on the prize money as they did not put their recycling out enough times.

Speaking of the draw, South Holland District Council Waste and Recycling Officer Samantha Gibbons said: “It was tremendous that there were seven out of a possible 10 winners at the first attempt. It’s fantastic that so many residents are regular recyclers.

“All residents need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to keep recycling correctly. This means avoiding putting the wrong items – which we call contaminants – in their bag. Common items include polystyrene, crisp packets and pet food pouches.”

Thanking the collection crews for “their help in launching the scheme”, Gibbons reminded householders that any householders not able to fill a green sack of recycling every week can instead put their recycling out in small carrier bags.

Speaking of her win, March winner Celia Willmott, from Gedney Drove End, said: “We were very surprised and excited to hear about the win.
For us to be chosen out of all the households was a lovely surprise.

“As a family we recycle regularly and realise how important it is to reduce the impact on the environment.”

The year-long recycling rewards lottery has been funded through part of a £1.7 million grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) Weekly Collection Support Scheme.

The WCSS, which was set up by DCLG Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, was launched to help reinstate weekly collections of residual waste in English councils. However, the majority of those awarded funding are, like South Holland, using the money to implement reward schemes.

Find out more about the Green Bag Lottery.