CHARITIES in Redditch have recently benefitted from the residents in the borough cutting their waste.

During the campaign, residents were extremely generous with their donations of points, giving a total of over 50,000, which in turn, helped the charities earn a share of £2,000.

As part of the Rewarding Redditch campaign, residents earn "points" for reducing waste, recycling more and pledging to be more environmentally friendly.

These points were then exchanged for vouchers and discounts at local and national stores, used towards activities or donated to charity.

The charities included Primrose Hospice, Redditch Nightstop, Arts in Redditch, Carers Careline, Where Now Association, and Redditch Spiritualist Church.

Councillor Tony Miller, cabinet member with responsibility for the environment at Worcestershire County Council said: "The Rewarding Redditch campaign was a great way for everyone within the borough to benefit from the simple task of reducing household waste.

"Just a few steps such as buying a compost bin, swapping to disposable nappies or reducing your food waste can make an impact on the amount of waste that goes into the black bins.

"We are really pleased with the way the residents embraced the campaign and thank them for their donations of points to these good causes".

Redditch Borough Council’s portfolio-holder for environmental services, councillor Brandon Clayton, said: “This really was a win win – the environment benefited from less waste and local charities had a deserved boost to their coffers.

“It was an excellent scheme which we are delighted to have supported and thanks to the residents who took part too.”

Rewarding Redditch was run by Worcestershire County Council in conjunction with Redditch Borough Council and Greenredeem, a company with extensive experience in incentivisation schemes.

The campaign ran from October 2017 to September 2018 and was a trial to see if offering residents incentives for reducing their waste would be effective.