Ron Gonen, of RecycleBank provides homeowners with large boxes, coded with a radio frequency ID chip, into which people can throw recyclables. When the boxes are emptied, RecycleBank records how much has been recycled and translates the results into reward points that can be redeemed at stores like Whole Foods and Starbucks.
The boxes and the service are free for homeowners—RecycleBank makes money by keeping a percentage of the money that cities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Delaware save by using the service. Wilmington, Delaware, which used to spend $3 million a year on throwing its residents’ waste away, has cut that figure down by half. According to Gonen, RecycleBank’s customers have diverted more than 19,500 tons of stuff from the waste stream—and subsequently redeemed over 3 million reward points.
The only way to reduce waste on the scale we need to is to make people pay for it, or reward them when they turn their rubbish into something positive....
