Anyone have RecycleBank where you live?

[disneysteve]

We are getting the RecycleBank program later this month in my town. Do any of you have this?

It is a single-stream recycling program with a rebate incentive to get people to recycle. We already recycle everything and don't need an incentive, but certainly won't pass it up. Basically, you dump all of your recyclables in a container that has a bar code for your house. Each week when it gets picked up, it gets weighed and you get credit based on how many pounds of stuff you recycle. You can then redeem credits for gift certificates and discounts at a variety of area merchants. I'm not sure what the maximum rebate is each month (I've seen conflicting information) but it is somewhere around $500/year total.

Just curious if anyone else has any experience with this.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

No, but do you foresee recycle bin contents theft so that someone can take credit for others' conscientiousness?

We still do not have curbside pick-up here unless we pay for it. So recycling = money out, not money in. I just walk mine up to the dumpsters at the nearby fire station.

[sounderella]

No, like Joan we have to pay to recycle. Doesn't really make sense. So like her we just take it to the public recycle dump spots.

[disneysteve]

Wow. Why would they charge you to recycle? It saves your town money by not having to pay landfill fees. Our town saves a couple million dollars each year through the recycling program. If not for recycling, they'd have to hike taxes to make up for that money.

[disneysteve]

Joan, I had the same thought. Figured I'd put on my black sweatsuit and go out late Wednesday night to make sure my bin was full.

[gamecock43]

I getcharged to recycle, so instead I drop my recycling off at a local park. I would love a recyclebank program to come here to Tampa

[disneysteve]

We've always had our recyclables picked-up at the curb and I've lived here 14 years. Now, we will get the rebates, too.

[zetta]

No, but do you foresee recycle bin contents theft so that someone can take credit for others' conscientiousness?

I forsee a jump in people putting non-recyclables in the bin to increase the weight and their rebate. Hopefully the program has planned for that...

[sounderella]

That's called thinking past the end of your nose Steve and I don't really give the local gov't here that much credit

[SnoopyCool]

Wow... I wish. We recycle anyway, but I'd love to make some $$ doing it.

[mom-from-missouri]

We don't have trash pickup, but I take our glass, paper, plastic and tin cans to the monhtly collection. It is free, but others around here charge. We don't buy much in alum. cans, but people thow out cans along our road. We collect those for our chuch youth group-they sell them and get several hundred a year for what people bring in.

[MelC]

We also have curbside pick up that costs about 6 dollars a month. Then the state sells it all off! So they get double the profits there

[thkgranny]

disneysteve, how did this program get started??? Just curious - I'd love to get this started in our county.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by thkgranny

disneysteve, how did this program get started??? Just curious - I'd love to get this started in our county.

RecycleBank is a national program, I believe. Check out their website at recyclebank.com for info.

[herm4]

YES!! We started this 2 months ago. I love it. We always recycled but this has made us SUPER recyclers. We have already cashed in for 3 $10 grocery certificates. They give us this huge recycle container and pick it up every other week. We then get points based on the weight. Lots of my neighbors are signed up. We compared points after the first pickup and most of us had 80-100 pts. ( Costs 100 pts for the HyVee $10 Grocery coupon I cash in for) Not too bad!!

[marvholly]

I live in a larger metro area. Our town has had recycling for >10 years. We do not pay any extra for it. The charge(s) are part of our municipal services real estate taxes.

Personally, I do NOT think my town has EVER made a very good deal. I think we should be getting paid (town or individually) for doing this.

[MomofFour]

Wow! That sounds great!

We live a rural area, we have to take our recyclables to the highway garage. Most of the people around us don't recycle because they don't want to mess with taking it in. I know a program like that would make a huge difference!

[rob62521]

Wow, this sounds like a great program. We have curbside service, but we also have to pay and boy are they picky...they only take plastics 1 & 2 and only clear glass, no colored glass bottles. And everything has to be in paper bags, not plastic ones.

[disneysteve]

I'm saddened in this day and age to hear how many of you live places where recycling is not provided and encouraged by the municipality. That's really a disgrace. You guys should all be flooding your city and county officials with letters demanding a recycling program. Our town has always encouraged us to recycle and the mayor's reports in the local paper periodically detail how many millions of dollars have been saved through the recycling program. When they started RecycleBank in one neighborhood as a pilot program, the recycling rate there went up 90%, and it was already pretty high. If we see those kinds of increases once the whole town participates later this month, the town will save millions.

[creditcardfree]

Sounds like a neat program. I sure would be interested if it ever comes to my area. We recycle...it is included with our local trash pickup. We pay
$6/month for both services.

Now, if we could get the can and bottle tax repealed and get paid to recycle those at the curb...I'd be so thrilled! Such a mess to take cans back to the store.

In our former town, we lived outside the city limits to had to hire a private hauler for trash. Many would not include the recycling in the same fee. As a result, people chose not to recycle to save on their trash bill.