Thrillseekers will be rewarded for cutting down on their plastic footprint, as 30 UK theme parks have launched a half price entry offer for visitors who recycle a used plastic bottle.

Starting today (July 25), visitors to Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Legoland Windsor, Chessington World of Adventures will be able to put any 500ml plastic bottle into a deposit return machine at the park entrance. They will then receive a half price discount voucher, which can be redeemed at 30 Merlin Entertainment attractions. 

Half price vouchers for these theme parks have been available for quite some time – from the back of cereal boxes, through discount websites or newspaper offers. But this marks the launch of the first discount ticket initiative that carries an eco-friendly purpose.

The move comes after research by Coca-Cola found that 64% of Brits would recycle more on-the-go if they were rewarded instantly for their actions.

“We want to reward people for doing the right thing by recycling their bottles and hope to encourage some people who wouldn’t otherwise have done so,” Jon Woods, general manager of Coca-Cola Great Britain, said. “All of our bottles can be recycled and we want to get as many of them back as possible so they can be turned into new bottles and not end up as litter.”

The trial runs until 19 October. Both Iceland supermarket and a number of UK festivals have also announced they will be hosting reverse vending machines this year, in order to encourage the recycling of plastic bottles.