A Conservative government would encourage councils to pay households to recycle their rubbish rather than fining them for incorrectly sorting their garbage, the party's Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said on Wednesday.
He told BBC radio the scheme would be more successful at boosting recycling than the punitive measures taken by some authorities that have seen residents fined for overfilling their bins or putting waste in the "wrong" containers.
"The whole direction the government has moved down of fining people who don't recycle, snooping on their bins, forcing councils into fortnightly collections, has been very unpopular.
"People don't respond as well to threats as they do to carrots," he said.
Osborne said the Conservatives, currently well ahead of Labour in opinion polls, were discussing the idea with the Local Government Association, London Mayor Boris Johnson, and individual councils.
Conservative-controlled Windsor and Maidenhead council confirmed it was investigating the scheme but said a number of legal and technical issues had be considered first.
The plans are based on recycling programmes which Osborne said had worked "incredibly well" in the United States, where residents are given up to $50 (25 pounds) a month for their recycling by private contractors such as RecycleBank.
The cost of the incentive payments is covered by the savings made from the consequent reductions in landfill taxes levied on local authorities.
Osborne said the U.S. schemes also had the effect of turning low income communities - often the worst at recycling - into the best recyclers. "It's really a virtuous circle."
Osborne will give further details about the scheme at a speech to environmental organisation Green Alliance later.
Green Alliance waste expert Hannah Hislop said she was pleased the scheme would be tested but said other approaches to boost recycling should also be tried.
"The ultimate aim is to create less waste in the first place, rather than reward people for generating it," she said.
