Rebecca Goodwin, Waste Minimisation and Recycling Officer, London Borough of Bexley, explains how the Jump (Local Green Points) scheme is working in Bexley
The scheme was launched in Bexley last Autumn to 2,000 households in Thamesmead and has recently been expanded to a further 15,000 properties across the Borough, so how does it work and what makes it unique?
Jump (Local Green Points) works on the simple premise that avoiding waste disposal delivers cost savings to the council and this is what the scheme seeks to achieve by incentivising and rewarding residents for increasing the amount they recycle and reuse, as well as reduce .
“We want people to become fully engaged in the scheme” explains Graham Simmonds, partner at Jump (Local Green Points). “To do this, households need to activate their account and they’re incentivised through a broad range of exclusive offers and discounts provided by local, independent retailers that are only available to those that sign up. Activated households then receive a Green Points card and key fob and simply show this to the retailer when they make a purchase. This is proving very popular with both residents and retailers and this ‘local angle’ is helping to drive more business for independent high street traders”.
So far so good, but how are people motivated to recycle more? Stephen Bates, partner at Jump (Local Green Points) explains; “It starts with communication. Every household receives an information pack that includes a booklet explaining what can and can’t be recycled. Everyone gets this whether they activate their accounts or not and research has shown that people value this type of practical information. The motivation to recycle more is achieved through the rewards – Green Points – based on performance improvements. For each residual waste collection round, we establish a baseline which is simply the weight of residual waste collected over a set period prior to the scheme starting. Then, following the scheme’s launch, we measure the residual waste collected and compare this to the baseline. This approach means that we can provide a fully inclusive scheme for people living in flats as well as houses. Where a reduction has been recorded, a saving is achieved and it is from a proportion of this saving that the allocation of Green Points is made and distributed equally to activated households on that collection round. 400 Green Points equates to £1 and people can accrue these points to purchase from a range of over 1,000 eco-products or experiences from our on-line reward shop (or paper catalogue for offline accounts); or people can donate their points to one of three local charity projects, which we are finding is a popular option”.
One of the challenges facing incentive schemes is how their operation impacts on a council’s current waste service. Jump (Local Green Points) offers a distinct advantage in this respect. Graham Simmonds again; “It does not require the investment of capital equipment or any change to the way councils or their contractors manage waste collection and disposal. If anything, we’d rather changes are minimised so we can more accurately assess the impact of the scheme. All we need to know is how much residual waste has been collected on a given collection round, and if recycling generates additional income for the council, then data for this too as this can also be used to calculate the allocation of points for households”
My view is that the community approach is helping to drive behaviour change. The fact people can donate their points to local charity projects, combined with all the special offers from cafes and other local retailers, helps build a sense of community and encourages people to recycle and think more about what they are throwing out.
In Thamesmead, over 30% of residents have so far activated their Jump (Local Green Points) account and are benefiting from the offers and discounts provided by over 60 local retailers. They’re also earning Green Points, paid for by the London Borough of Bexley out of savings from reduced residual waste and increased recycling. The scheme has been part funded by LWaRB through their flats recycling initiative and is now being rolled out to cover all 17,000 purpose built flats across Bexley.
