It is best known as a picturesque base for mountain walks but over the last three months a small Welsh market town has been taking part in a world-first environmental scheme that it is hoped may help revolutionise recycling.
People in Brecon (Aberhonddu) have been given manifold ways of returning drinks containers in exchange for a small financial reward. Uptake for the project, a digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) in which citizens get 10p for every container they recycle, has been good with 1,300 of the 4,300 households eligible signing up and 25,000 containers set to be processed.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, who visited on Wednesday, said: “We’re committed to introducing a deposit return scheme in Wales and it’s important we explore the different ways a scheme could be delivered.
“Wales is the third best country in the world for recycling but we need to go further if we are to reach net zero and tackle littering. The learning from this trial will help us better understand recycling patterns.”
During the “Scan Recycle Reward” trial, which has been backed by Welsh government money, teams have been darting around the town putting about half a million QR code stickers on drinks containers in supermarkets, shops, bakeries, fish and chip shops, even the mess of the 160th (Welsh) Brigade, which is based in the town.
Residents who signed up for an accountcan scan the stickers on their smartphone and earn 10p a time. They can then recycle the containers in their normal Powys county council kerbside collection bin or at community points.
Participants can also take containers to automated machines at a supermarket or leisure centre or hand them over to assistants at some stores.
The drinks containers with the 10p sticker will not cost more than normal as the reward is being funded by the sponsors, which include retailers in Brecon, packaging companies and some drinks brands as well as the government.
Nellie Salter, the trial supervisor, said they had been pleased by how many people had taken part and were testing things such as how people preferred to return containers (it turned out to be via their kerbside bins) and if people tried to defraud the system.
Challenges had included the sometimes ropey mobile phone coverage, and there was an unexpected spike when, during the town’s jazz festival, youngsters realised there was cash to be made.
Paige Davies, a supervisor at Holland & Barrett, one of the shops involved, said people had been baffled at first. “But I think people have come to understand and like it.” Her family had become keen adopters. “We’re very recycling conscious anyway but the 10p is a bonus. Every little helps.”
Duncan Midwood, the programme lead, said the scheme was more flexible than conventional deposit return schemes, giving consumers the chance to return containers where they preferred – at home, at points in the community or in shops rather than only to retailers.
Midwood said it was the first time a whole town anywhere in the world had used the DDRS scheme, with Brecon chosen because of its manageable size and a relatively isolated, contained population.
The ambition is to repeat the pilot in a bigger community, perhaps somewhere like the Isle of Wight, before, if all goes to plan, a national rollout. “We believe that, once bedded in, as Brecon is starting to show, consumers find it easy and the choice makes it convenient for them,” he said.
