Be a World Cup winner with recycling golden goal card

Score a golden goal card with South Norfolk Council and you could be watching the World Cup on a brand new flat screen TV this summer.

That's the message of recycling champion Councillor Philip Waltham, who leads for the Council on the environment.

He has launched the Council's Golden Goal Recycling Card to reward people who leave out "perfect" green recycling bins.

If one of the council's residents gets a gold card with their green bin, they can enter into a draw for this top TV prize.

Runners' up will get Fair Trade footballs and recycled drinking glasses.

The scheme will run from 9th June to 30th June with the TV delivered to the winner in time to watch the final on 9th July.

Councillor Waltham said:

"Our residents are already green bin champions, with a recycling rate of over 30 per cent throughout the District. It's a fantastic achievement.

"However dealing with the rubbish that should not go in the green bins is proving a £42,000 headache. Residents can recycle plastic bottles, cans, metal aerosols, paper and cardboard in their green bins. Anything other than this is classed as contamination.

"Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS) at Costessey, who take our recycling along with recycling from councils across Norfolk, will not accept lorry loads which contain contamination. Last year, this cost us around £42,000 - the amount we had to pay to dispose of rejected loads.

"Offering people an incentive to cut back on contamination and recycle more of the right things could mean big long-term savings for us.

"And what better way to celebrate England winning the World Cup in Germany than by scoring a Golden Goal Card, and watching the final on a brand new, flat screen telly, courtesy of South Norfolk Council." The incentive scheme uses football shaped gold cards, which bin collection crews will issue to residents whose green recycling bins contain minimal or no contaminants.

If a resident gets a golden goal card, they should fill in the form on the back and send it into the Council's TV prize draw. The Council's collection crews visually check every bin that they empty.

The Council will at the same time be running a new Red Card scheme, using the same football shape and design, which contains all the usual recycling facts, as well as some World Cup waste facts - for example, during the World Cup, on average, we will each throw away over half our body weight in rubbish.

Councillor Waltham added:

"By working with residents in this way, and rewarding those who are committed to recycling, we are saving money in the long run and helping conservation.

"Now that South Norfolk is covered by our kerbside wheelie bin collections of refuse and recycling, we are hoping residents will get into the spirit of the World Cup and score a Golden Goal for conservation, and the environment."

The council's Golden Goal Cards and Red Cards are also timed to coincide with The BIG Recycle, a major national campaign to encourage the public to recycle more household waste.

ITV's football presenter Gabby Logan is the face of the campaign, jointly organised and funded by WRAP - the UK's Waste and Resources Action Programme, established to promote resource efficiency.

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