July 16, 2008

Recycling one glass bottle can net you five cents, if you live in the right state and find the right recycling facility. But what if earning money for recycling at home was even easier?

Philadelphia-based RecycleBank Inc., aims to do just that. The company rewards people with points for recycling at home in order to “change behaviors and attitudes—not as enforcers, but encouragers,” and to make “recycling understandable, easy and rewarding.”

RecycleBank’s users place their recyclables in a recycling bin equipped with a monitoring chip. On pickup day the hauler will scan and weigh the recyclables. The weight of the recycled material in the bin is converted into RecycleBank points deposited into the resident’s account. Residents can check their "balance" online and cash in their reward points for a maximum of $25 a month or $400 a year at several dozen national chains. They are also able to keep track of how much they are recycling.

Link to entire story .

My Thoughts: Ok so no one is going to get rich by recycling their waste but four hundred bucks a year is nothing to sneeze at. I like the idea. The fact that it is successful just proves what I have been saying; "the way to achieve change is through economic incentive to the individual consumer".