{"id":18401,"date":"2015-02-10T11:33:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T16:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18401"},"modified":"2015-02-10T11:40:53","modified_gmt":"2015-02-10T16:40:53","slug":"rewards-program-encourage-recycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/rewards-program-encourage-recycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Would A Rewards Program Encourage You To Recycle More?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"recycling<\/a><\/p>\n

I know a lot of people wonder why they don’t get paid for recyclable materials<\/a> – after all, there is a market for these materials. But, in essence, we do: we get paid in the convenience of curbside<\/a> and single-stream programs. We’ve always had the option of taking materials to a recycler ourselves… but, by and large, we don’t. Municipalities have focused on “rewarding” residents who recycle\u00a0with convenience, but the growth of other rewards programs, like Recyclebank<\/a>, demonstrates that “payment” in the form of redeemable points – think of your credit card’s or grocery store’s loyalty rewards program – might be the next big thing to increase recycling rates (and save municipalities money on dumping fees).<\/p>\n

Of course, such programs must be easy and convenient to use: participants not only have to be able to figure out how to get their materials picked up and counted, but also to track their points, and redeem them on products and services they want. Norfolk, Virginia, which participates in Recycling Perks<\/a>, is the first community involved in that program to try out an app for recycling and awards management. According to the city<\/a>, the Recycling Perks app – available for both iOS and Android-based devices – provides users with features and information like:<\/p>\n