A CASH-for-recycling scheme could be on the cards for householders in Basingstoke and Deane.

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has proposed rewarding families with an average £130 per year if they do their bit to recycle.

Members of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Conservative-led administration say they welcome the the idea. They are set to approve new recycling plans at their latest Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Council leader Councillor Andrew Finney told The Gazette: “We support Conservative national policy which is to look at incentives for those that recycle.” He added that incentives could be one tool in the struggle to improve the borough’s poor 23 per cent recycling rate.

The measures set for approval tomorrow include a ban on residents leaving side waste in bags next to their black bins. And if it does not prove to be too expensive after further research, householders may be given boxes to fill with waste glass for kerbside collection and recycling.

Cllr Finney added: “Anything that can be done to help our residents with the recycling campaign, we will do. But equally our residents must take responsibility.”

The housing and environment overview and scrutiny committee has already discussed the package of measures coming before the Cabinet for approval tomorrow.

After he raised the spectre of glass awaiting collection being scattered everywhere by vandals, Liberal Democrat Cllr Stuart Parker was reassured by Claire Harper, the council’s head of environmental care. She said there was no evidence of such a problem from authorities adopting kerbside glass collection, including neighbouring Hart District Council.

However, Independent Cllr Martin Biermann said the measures are not radical enough. He told the meeting: “It’s a head-in-the-sand way forward and we are never going to get a good recycling rate.”