Any RecycleBank customers here?

[disneysteve]

We have had RecycleBank in our town for a couple of years. I was very excited when I heard about it and thought it would be great because we are dedicated recyclers anyway and getting rewards for something we already do would be great. The reality has been that we recycle more than ever but the rewards program has kind of been a bust. The choices are pretty limited. Many of the participating merchants aren't in our area or are places that we just don't go. I logged in today and we have nearly 9,000 points in our account. I ordered a couple of coupons but used just 95 points. We earn 65-75 points every week.

So I'm curious what others are using their points for. I realize it will vary geographically but just thought I'd see if others were finding the program more useful than we are.

[bjl584]

I've never heard of it. What is it? I assume they take recyclables and give you (cash) points for them?

Sounds like a scrap yard. I was just at the scrap yard the other day. I had 800 lbs of aluminum. 54 cents a pounds worked out to $432.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by bjl584

I've never heard of it. What is it? I assume they take recyclables and give you (cash) points for them?

It is a rewards program for recycling. Every house has a bin with an RFID chip. The truck comes by each week and collects your recyclables and you earn points for their rewards program. Go to RecycleBank.com to check it out. It is a neat program. I'm just finding limited uses for the points. There is one deli that we shop at about once/month in the program so I get a $2 off coupon for them. Coke was in the program for a while and I was getting free 12-pack coupons. At first, there was no limit on those. Then they limited it to 4/month. Now it isn't even a choice. I just got a $1 off Bumble Bee tuna coupon. There just aren't nearly enough things useful to us to ever use anywhere near all of the points we accumulate.

[Like2Plan]

I usually get a gift card. So far a $10.00 iTunes card and a $10.00 panera bread gift card.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Like2Plan

I usually get a gift card. So far a $10.00 iTunes card and a $10.00 panera bread gift card.

I have to take a look at the gift card options. Previously, I avoided them because it didn't seem a good use of the points, but if I can't use them for anything else, it makes sense.

[Like2Plan]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I have to take a look at the gift card options. Previously, I avoided them because it didn't seem a good use of the points, but if I can't use them for anything else, it makes sense.

Yes- that was my initial reaction, too. I had been saving up my points and then noticed they were dropping off. I figured some points must have expired (I didn't realize they expire.) We started this in 2008 and we earn about 55 pts per week. So, now everytime I have enough points for a gift card I get one.