Local authority incentive schemes can encourage people to recycle, but there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, and they are best combined with service changes, concludes new government research. A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs review of 53 householder incentive schemes concluded that incentives aimed at stimulating waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting could be a useful tool, but that councils needed to first consider the barriers to changing behaviour. ‘We’ve trebled recycling since 1997, but we’re going to have to do much better if we are to tackle climate change and avoid huge fines for breaking European landfill limits,’ said environment minister Ben Bradshaw. ‘We must all change our behaviour radically, and these incentive schemes show this is possible.’ The study found that 43 (81%) of the trials had a positive impact in awareness raising, but nine of the trials revealed no increase in awareness and these showed no improvement in recycling tonnages. Thirty (57%) showed positive and attributable impacts on the tonnage of recyclables collected, although the impact varied widely. About half saw a 5-10% improvement in rates, while the best upped their tonnages by 15%. The study concludes incentives can improve performance of waste collection but care is needed when choosing the incentive. The best results were achieved where the incentive accompanied a service change, such as widening the range of materials collected. • Evaluation of the household waste incentives pilot scheme : www.surveyormagazine.com /index.cfm?fuseaction=archive.featuredetail&IsPaper=true&articleID=3201