Local councils look to barcode scanners to boost recycling rates

Binmen will carry scanners

Twenty-seven local councils are piloting the use of monitoring technology to improve recycling rates and avoid additional waste taxes.

The system will use barcodes attached to individual bins to monitor and record how far residents comply with council rules on disposal.

Local authorities are under increasing pressure from central government to reduce the amount of domestic rubbish that is sent to landfill sites, said Peterborough County Council head of waste management Michael Robb.

The government’s landfill tax ­ created in 1996 to encourage councils to recover more value from rubbish and use more environmentally-friendly methods of disposal ­ will double by 2010.

And councils could be paying up to £3bn over the next four years, according to estimates from the Local Government Association.

“We want to improve recycling adoption rates in certain parts of the city in line with government targets,” said Robb.

Binmen participating in the trial will be issued with handheld scanning devices to read the barcodes as each bin is collected. Details such as recycling participation, damage and proof of collection are selected from a list of options and recorded.

The data is then sent back to a central system that issues warning letters and enforcement notices on a strike-based system. In the event of an address repeatedly failing to comply with recycling guidelines, records from the system can be produced in court as evidence.

The system is designed to make residents feel responsible for their rubbish, said Robb.

“If people know that we are monitoring their particular bin in a systematic way they make more effort,” he said.

Alongside the barcode scheme the councils are providing advice lines and advisers to help residents comply with guidelines after a third strike.

The barcode and scanning system comes from vendor Prisymid.