Winning ways to recycle have been successfully trialed across the country with prizes being awarded to residents doing well in the schemes.

Millions more people have been encouraged to recycle thanks to the incentive schemes funded by a £3.5 million Defra grant.

Individual prizes such as cash, cars and holidays were offered in some schemes, whilst in others, communities were rewarded with funding for local initiatives and improvements.

Over 50 pilots were run by local authorities across the country to test a variety of approaches to encourage their residents to reduce, re-use and recycle their waste.

In over half the areas, the tonnage of recyclables collected increased, while in others the contamination rates were reduced considerably.

Other incentive pilots targeted waste reduction by encouraging reuse. Some of the trials led to enthusiastic recycling community champions and a range of voluntary community groups.

Environment minister, Ben Bradshaw, said: "We've trebled recycling since 1997 - but we're going to have to do much better still if we are to tackle climate change and avoid huge fines for breaking European landfill limits."

"We are all going to have to change our behaviour radically and these incentive schemes show it's possible."

The pilots looked at a number of incentives geared towards specific barriers: recycling the wrong things, not recycling at all, not using local services such as bottle banks frequently.

In Hampshire, residents who recycled properly and put the right waste in the right bins were rewarded with vouchers to local attractions. The result was a 50% reduction in the number of households putting the wrong things in their recycling bins.

The most popular schemes were those that offered lottery-style prize draws. In Exeter, one lucky resident won an environmentally friendly car.

The diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (which is mainly household waste) from landfill is a key objective under the EU Landfill Directive. By 2010, biodegradable waste going to landfill must be 75% of the amount disposed in 1995; by 2013 this is reduced to 50% and by 2020 to 35%.