AN innovative scheme which rewarded residents for recycling their household waste is to be scrapped.

Halton Council was one of the first in the country to give people the chance to earn points through a ‘recyclebank’ when it was launched in 2008.

Blue wheelie bins were fitted with special tags which weighed the amount of recycled refuse each household filled.

Shops, restaurants, retailers and leisure outlets signed up to join the project.

Residents were able to convert their points into vouchers and get money off meals, products and services.

However, from November 1, the scheme is being axed due to council budget cuts.

Residents are assured they will not lose any accrued points.

Halton Cllr Stef Nelson, board member for environmental services said: "It is unfortunate that we will be ceasing this service to our residents, but the continued and significant cuts to our funding by central Government means that we need to make really hard choices about the services we provide. "The scale of the cuts means that we are having to take increasingly difficult decisions to help achieve the level of financial savings required to balance our budgets.”

He said the council appreciated the co-operation and support of residents.

The reward scheme, he said, had improved recycling performance and cut the amount of costly land fill disposal.

Cllr Nelson added: “Spending less money for waste disposal means that we will have more money to spend on important front line services that may have been at risk of ceasing or reducing as a result of the ongoing cuts to our funding.

“We are currently looking at alternative ways of rewarding our residents for their recycling efforts.”

All residents signed up to the scheme have received an email notifying them of the council’s withdrawal.

Residents can still access rewards from Greenredeem’s national partners with brands such as Persil, Comfort, Magnum and others.