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Missed points for recycling cannot be collected
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Recycling system proves ‘pointless’

By Laura Herbert
May 16, 2012

Going green to cash in on recycling incentives has been labelled “pointless” as some users are missing out on rewards.

People registered for the Recyclebank scheme have discovered they will not receive points, even if they have recycled, if they fail to report recycling within the week it was collected.

Some residents have a small window of just 48 hours to report that they used their black boxes that week and claim the points they are owed under the new scheme.

Recyclebank has partnered with Wokingham Borough Council to offer the recycling incentives where members can collect 10 weekly points and be eligible for a monthly bonus.

Points can be exchanged for rewards from shops and businesses such as Marks & Spencer, hairdressers and cinemas.

Recyclebank told The Wokingham Times its week runs from Sunday to Saturday and reports must be made within the week in order to claim points.

Keen recycler Lucy Jones, of Woodley, said: “The points collection system seems flawed. If your collection day is toward the end of Recyclebank’s week you only get a few days to remember to log your recycling.

“If you forget, like I did, and leave it until the next Recyclebank week it allows you to collect the points.

“But then when I attempted to collect for my actual day later in that week I missed out on points as the system believes I’ve already recycled.

“There doesn’t seem to be any information on how to log missed weeks.

“It is already an effort to remember to log my recycling – I don’t then want to have to chase them for 10 missed points, I’d rather go without.

“Since when was two days a week? If your collection day is a Monday, you get five to six days to log your recycling – if your collection day is a Thursday or Friday you only get one or two days to log it.”

Rob Crumbie, Recyclebank’s director of marketing and communication, said: “Users will only receive the 10 points for recycling if they report within the week. Members only have to report once a month to qualify for the monthly bonus.

Register now for recycling rewards

“To help people remember, we have reminders that can be set either on the website, or on the two smartphone apps to remind people that they need to report their recycling. Unfortunately once the week has passed, members cannot claim the 10 point weekly bonus for a previous week.”

Recycling plan 'scrapped by council'

Recyclebank launched the scheme in Wokingham in April as part of the council’s new waste plan. All households were given 80 official sacks for waste each year and recycling collection has gone from fortnightly to weekly.

Philippa Etheridge posted on Facebook group Wokingham Gossip Girls: “Keep forgetting to collect my recycling points and I always wonder what actually happens to the stuff we throw out, I suspect very little. I am very uncertain about what is accepted and what is not, so I just throw everything in and hope they sort it!”

Josie Mackenzie added: “I am remembering most weeks to register (think I have 500 points so far) but was already recycling as much as I could, so the new scheme hasn’t particularly ‘encouraged’ me to recycle more.”

Emma O’Brien wrote: “Finding it good that it’s collected weekly now but don’t think the set point system is fair. My parents’ recycling is weighed and then points allocated on that so the more u recycle the more points you get.”

Blue bin bags flawed, but recycling up

Angela Azzopardi posted: “It has made zero difference to my recycling and the points system is – as someone else has said – pointless.

“I can’t see me keeping up with it, my time would be better spent seeking out discount vouchers on the net – same end result, less hassle.”

Helen Jessie Renwick added: “Regarding the points – to be honest if the inspirations hair and beauty discount voucher wasn’t there I probably wouldn’t bother, although I did notice a free coffee is also on offer when another is bought in Brown Bag. Other than those two I wouldn’t use them.”

Mr Crumbie said: “When we put it through at the end of April we noticed some members were short of as much as 13 points so before we had anything back from members we were pro-active and noticed the error.

“Because it is the first month of the monthly bonus we have awarded 50 points as a goodwill gesture.”

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Tried to exchange some points for an M&S voucher using the mobile phone app and got the message 'Product ID: 250 Error: You may only order $5 off $100 or more - Sioux Falls reward 1 time per 1 month".......

What's the clucking point?

Bag Lady
21/05/2012 at 11:14

It is a major concern that Wokingham over the last ten years has gradually reduced the amount that we can recycle free of extra charges. They have avoided the solution adopted in many other countries where recyclables of many varieties are collected but other waste has to be put in a public bin. Replacing blue bags by large public bins in each street would have been much more effective.

PoneRana, Wokingham
20/05/2012 at 13:23

To hell with points, we have always recycled becaue we think it the right thing to do, being careful to sort all waste and creating 4 recycling bins worth for fortnightly collection in the past and now two bins for weekly collection (Can't understand WHY the Council have doubled their/our recycling costs to acxhieve nothing?). We also recycled green waste but now 'loss it' some other way. So in all our recycling has gone down and the cost doubled. Wonderful.

Bingley, Woodley
16/05/2012 at 20:33

@Tonk - sigh. You too are relying on old data. Look, when the black box scheme started, you used to have to separate waste into two black boxes. Paper and card in one, plastics and cans in the other (as I remember). But the scheme changed so that everything could be placed into a single box, all mixed up. This was done when Re3 was extended, and all recycling was processed by machine, so no need to separate first by hand. It is these machines (called "Titech Polysort machines") that cannot always process plastic that isn't in the form of plastic bottles. The reason given for this is that "nearly every other type of plastic packaging is made from more than one type of plastic and contains chemical contaminants, making them very difficult to sort", which is not an argument that I actually buy, but that's a separate point.

So it was when Wokingham stopped asking us to sort our recycling into separate boxes that they also stopped recycling other types of plastic waste. This change did NOT come in at the same time as blue bags.

mavdo, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 17:17

@PoneRana - I agree that at one point in the past Wokingham did include all type1 and 2 plastics because I too remember reading this on their website, but this was some years ago. This did change some time back so that only plastic bottles were recycled. If that printout was from 5 years ago, I would accept your point. My point was that this did not change when the blue bag scheme was introduced.

mavdo, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 17:09

Pone Rana:

I agree.....I too used to recycle plastics of type 1 and 2 AS PER THE LEAFLET given to us by WBC when the sceme first came in. I used to recycle trays and other things that had a triangle with 1 or 2 on it.

My level of recycling has gone down because now I can ONLY recycle bottles which means more plastic going into landfil. I also won't pay extra to have my green waste collected so that puts WDC's recycling figures down too.....To be honest, I only put out grass clippings and composted everything else before, now I put my grass cuttings into my compost bins and under my beech hedge.

I just fear that WDC will use the reduction in tonnage of recycling to justify introducing more draconian waste policies.......I wouldn't put it past them.

Tonk, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 16:55

The points only give you discounts when you spend a certain amount of money at a particular shop so tbh not much of a benefit to me - I do other things with reward points that are much better. Main point at issue seems to be the failure of the council to arrange to recycle different items such as tetrapak and food cartons.

Snowdrop, Twyford
16/05/2012 at 16:42

I think you are wrong MAVDO because the council website specifically said that type 1 & 2 plastics should be included in the recycling. I have just checked a printout of it that is pinned up on the door of our recycling cupboard.

PoneRana, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 16:08

@Vroni - you have made the same mistake as posters on previous stories. The types of recycling collected by the council HAVE NOT CHANGED from the old scheme to the new one. If you were recycling type 1 and 2 plastics that were not bottles before, these were NOT being recycled by our council. They were filtered out of the sorting process and put back into landfill waste. That they actually should be being collected and recycled is a completely different story.

mavdo, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 15:26

Black bags are still being collected. I'd like to know the council's plans for enforcement including whether a firm date has been selected from which point only the blue bags will be collected. The Points thing is simply window dressing. Let's have the numbers for green waste recycling, and a show of hands if you're using your blue bag to dispose of grass cuttings.

Bag Lady
16/05/2012 at 13:52

The whole points system seems to be frought with errors. We were promised 300 points for registering but many people haven't received these.

PoneRana, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 13:11

I don't care much for the points, if we were actually still allowed to recycle as much as we used to. I have to admit, our 2 bins are full by the end of the week - but that is no different to how we used to recycle. The fact that plastics with no 1 and 2 are no longer allowed to be recycled makes a BIG difference to our waste. This in my eyes is a major downfall of the council.

Vroni
16/05/2012 at 12:58

I P, the story exists because it's an issue that people - quite obviously - care enough about to read and to comment on.

Recyclebank isn't an incentive, it never was. It's a cheaper service (and you get what you pay for) designed to reduce the bills at the council, no matter the effect.

The points system is, for those who don't know how capitalism/data harvesting works, an excuse for the company running the scheme to collect and sell your contact details. So enjoy your free cup of coffee, but don't complain when you get marketing calls when you're at home trying to eat your dinner.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
16/05/2012 at 12:10

What a 'pointless' story......

People forget to register that they recycled in time and do not get points.... Wow what a shocker!!!!!

Unfortunately we do live in a day and age where people need encouragement for 'doing their bit'. A few of my neighbours up until recently didn't recycle at all and now they do.

This Recyclebank thing is optional and doesn't cost the council anything, I don't do it because I can't be bothered. End of.

I P Freely
16/05/2012 at 11:51

Agree with mavdo and most comments in the article that this scheme is pointless. It doesn't encourage people to recycle and having to enter details each week is just hassle and people will get bored of it. As I have said numerous times before, weekly recycling isn't needed as a fortnightly collection is fine. All WBC have come up with is a really inefficient service, which obviously ticks a few boxes and they think is wonderful. I don't want my recycling collected every week, but I would like my green waste collected for free. How about they alternate recycling and green waste each week? Oh, sorry I forgot, that is what they used to do, but it was such a good idea that they scrapped it and have given us something we don't want or need!