South Norfolk pioneers new 'microchip bins'

A Norfolk council is soon to become the first in the country to provide all its residents with new wheelie bins, which will use microchip technology to encourage householders to increase the amount they recycle and reuse.

South Norfolk Council has already distributed the grey rubbish bins and green recycling bins to 70 per cent of its eligible residents, and by the end of the year will be the first council able to monitor electronically how much waste every household is sending to landfill or recycling.

David Osborne, head of Environmental Services at South Norfolk, explained:

"We are leading the way with this new bin system because in order to change hearts and minds we first need to learn and understand the recycling habits of our residents. Although there are other councils using these microchip bins in some of their areas, we are the only ones to be rolling them out throughout the entire district.

"The Government has given each council a landfill allocation, and if we landfill more than our limit we will be fined £150 for every tonne we go over it. That charge will have to be shouldered by the Council Tax payer. We are introducing these new bins to protect both our environment and our taxpayers - and we have evidence already of how successful they are proving. In Poringland alone, their recycling rates have risen from around 12 per cent before the new bins, to 34 per cent now."

In the pioneering system, a microchip is attached to the outside of each bin, so that the software system in the dustcart can download the information when it lifts the bin, and determine the percentages of waste being recycled or discarded. Figures can be analysed down to individual households, which allows the Council to celebrate successes and identify those who need more assistance.

Cllr John Peterson, who leads for South Norfolk Council on the Environment, added:

"This is not designed to embarrass people; we won't publish individual results, but we will use them to help us help those householders who would probably be able to recycle more. We might also use the information to identify the top recyclers in the district. We're putting in a bid to the Government to join their householder incentive pilot scheme, which would reward people on the basis of how much and how well they're recycling."

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