RecycleBank, LLC a Philadelphia based company, has revolutionized municipal recycling in America. By merging technology with incentives, using innovative environmental practices, and developing creative partnerships RecycleBank has developed a sustainable long-term solution to the challenge of recycling. Recycle Bank's mission is to "promote environmentally conscious waste disposal by offering households financial incentives to recycle."
Patrick FitzGerald and Ron Gonen, both Philadelphia natives, co-founded the company. FitzGerald had concluded that recycling rates in the US would increase once the industry learned how to motivate its suppliers— all the homeowners who produced trash. In 2001, he created the concept of incentivized recycling. The two men created a business plan, developed software, and christened the company RecycleBank (www.recyclebank.com). The company logo—a piggybank whose back end is a recycling bin— embodies consumer incentives and environmental consciousness. In 2003 The Eugene Lang Entrepreneurial Fund of Columbia University awarded the company a $100,000 grant and in 2004 RecycleBank launched in Philadelphia.
Customers are provided with 34, 64, or 96 gallon recycling bins fitted with RFID chips containing the homeowner's information including a RecycleBank online account number. RecycleBank accepts mixed recyclables—mixed paper, glass, plastic, and cans all in one stream (single-stream recycling), which increases the cost-effectiveness of the collection. Collection trucks are equipped with specifically designed computers. The computers scan the chip, calculate the weight of the recycled materials, store the information in a database, and credit the household for the amount of materials recycled. This credit amount becomes RecycleBank 'dollars.' Participating households can earn up to $400 a year in RecycleBank dollars, which are then redeemed at over 400 local and national participating members, including Starbucks, Staples, Whole Foods, Home Depot, Reading Terminal Market and White Dog Cafe. RecycleBank dollars can also be donated to local non-profit groups, community projects, charities, and environmental organizations. For example, Coke Cola has developed a Green Community Fund where RecycleBank dollars are donated to environmental educational programs in Philadelphia public school and libraries. In addition, customers can determine the environmental impact of their recycling efforts by checking their accounts and seeing how many trees and gallons of oil their efforts have helped to conserve.
Partnership development has been a critical piece of RecycleBank's success. On the local level, they have a long-term partnership with Philadelphia based Blue Mountain Recycling, which pioneered the concept of 'single stream ' recycling. Blue Mountain separates the glass, paper, plastics, and metal at their processing plant, thereby increasing the cost effectiveness of the RecycleBank collection model. RecycleBank has established a proprietary relationship with Cascade Engineering to develop gallon recycle bins embedded with RFID (radio frequency identification). This enables the bins to be scanned and weighed and the amount recycled linked to specific households. In addition, RecycleBank has over 400 retail partnership agreements with local and national companies as diverse as Patagonia, McNally's Tavern, and Target. Finally, RecycleBank's latest partnership with Casella Waste Systems in Rutland, Vermont will provide the company an introduction to a larger audience throughout the Mid-Atlantic and beyond.
The initial launch in the West Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods of Philadelphiaincluded 2,500 households where the recycling rates were 7% and 30% respectively. Within two months, recycling rates had doubled in both neighborhoods. Additionally, participation rates in both neighborhoods rose to 90%. These improvements and statistics remain the standard for RecycleBank in that typically recycling rates rise to 40% and participation in the RecycleBank program hovers around the 90% range.
Since this initial pilot program RecycleBank has expanded to surrounding townships and municipalities in the greater Philadelphia area. The most recent has been in Wilmington, Delaware where the recycling rate of targeted neighborhoods has risen from zero to 35 % in little over four months. During 2006, RecycleBank launched in Westville, Clayton, and Elk Townships in New Jersey. Private haulers such as Ches-Mont, Leek Waste Haulers and Danella have begun offering RecycleBank services to customers in Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester counties. In 2007, RecycleBank plans to offer the program to an additional 250,000 households in the Philadelphia area.
RecycleBank has been named one of the "Top Incentive Programs of 2006" by Incentive Magazine. Waste News awarded RecycleBank, along with Dell Computers and The State of California, the 2006 Corporate Environmental Award. This past year, RecycleBank and the households' serviced saved 40,000 trees and 2.5 million gallons of oil. Collectively 1.5 million RecycleBank dollars were earned which in turn benefited the local economy as people put money back into local business. RecycleBank has been endorsed by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia City Council and has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes.com, NBC, Fox News, NPR, Plenty Magazine and over 100 other local and national media outlets.
Environmental and economic sustainability are the hallmarks of RecycleBank's business model and company ethos. The RecycleBank program seeks to promote increased recycling, local business development, decreased landfill/incinerator usage, and the education of communities on sustainable business, social and living practices. The RecycleBank mission is simple: "to preserve the environment on home at a time."
