M&S vouchers for recycling under Tories

Tue Nov 24 2009 06:55:35

Householders could earn shopping vouchers worth £130 per year as a reward for recycling, under a scheme planned by the Conservatives.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne describes the idea as a sharp contrast to Labour's "indifferent" approach to the green agenda.

It will build on a pilot scheme in Tory-controlled Windsor and Maidenhead which offers vouchers for retailers such as Marks & Spencer which is claimed to have boosted recycling by almost a third.

In a speech at Imperial College London, Mr Osborne will say the initiative will be rolled out across the country if the party is elected, helping to save cash for landfill taxes.

He will also pledge that in the first year of a Tory administration, central government carbon emissions would be cut by 10 per cent, saving £300 million in energy costs.

Mr Osborne will say: "I want a Conservative Treasury to be in lead of developing the low carbon economy and financing a green recovery.

"For I see in this green recovery not just the fight against climate change, but the fight for jobs, the fight for new industry, the fight for lower family energy bills and the fight for less wasteful government."

Environment secretary Ed Miliband dismissed the plans, saying that the Conservatives had opposed Labour proposals to invest in green industries.

He said: "This so-called greening of the Treasury involves no new money.

"The truth is that the Tories have opposed Labour's extra public investment, including the £400 million allocated at the time of the budget for new green industries. So why should anyone believe a piece of greenwash from George Osborne?"

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