What if you could be rewarded for recycling?
A nice family dinner out, some movie tickets, groceries, gift cards… yours for the simple task of weekly household recycling? RecycleBank is a rewards program that motivates residents to recycle. Similar to frequent flier programs, the more you recycle, the more Points you earn.
A select group of Southside households are in a Phase 1 field test and are now getting rewarded for their recycling. Who benefits? Well, everyone involved. The residents have potential to earn hundreds of dollars in reward value each year for their recycling efforts. The local businesses see reward redemptions and customer loyalty for participating in the community. The city saves money for each and every ton of trash that would have normally been landfilled, and also earns revenue on the collected commodities. Litter gets reduced as people begin to understand the value of ‘trash’. And let’s not forget the planet!
Here’s how it works:
To quote the NY Times, “The process is elegantly simple…” Blue Carts in selected area have been retrofitted with an ID tag. The tag matches the cart to the account / household address. Trucks are retrofitted with RecycleBank technology to weigh the recyclables and convert that weight into RecycleBank Points. Residents utilize single stream recycling, meaning everything—paper, glass, plastics, cardboard, aluminum, tin—all go into the same container. There is no more sorting.
Next, they simply wheel their RecycleBank cart out to the curb on regular pick up days and rack up 2.5 RecycleBank Points for every pound recycled. When ready, they redeem those Points at www.RecycleBank.com or call a toll free 1.888.727.2978 for rewards of their choosing from hundreds of local and national RecycleBank partners. There is even an option to donate your Points to local School environmental programs and charities, RecycleBank members can track their own personal environmental footprint by seeing how many trees and how many gallons of oil their household has saved by recycling.
RecycleBank’s meaningful rewards program makes household recycling easy and simple to accomplish by providing households with the tools that they need for success and then rewarding people for their efforts. RecycleBank helps the environment while creating more sustainable towns and cities. In addition, RecycleBank supports landfill diversion, economic stimulation, cleaner greener cities and daily action that can make a difference in our environment today. With all the belt-tightening that is happening right now, that could translate into a lot of free coffee, groceries, pet food or personal-care supplies.
The key thing to remember about RecycleBank versus other recycling initiatives is that RecycleBank rewards its households for recycling. Most cities struggle trying to find ideas and strategies to help raise its recycling rates to build a more sustainable city. RecycleBank does just that and everybody wins.
How do I get RecycleBank in my neighborhood?
The success of Phase 1 will determine the citywide rollout of this revolutionary way to recycle. But don’t despair! In the mean time, you too can have a RecycleBank account! Here’s how: