Days prior to America Recycles Day and on the heels of overwhelming successes across East Coast cities likeWilmington, DE, Fairfax, VA and Cherry Hill, NJ, the popular RecycleBank recycling rewards program announces plans to strategically expandoperations.

RecycleBank's geographic growth into Southern, Mid-Western and Western states brings the company closer to fulfilling its mission ofdramatically increasing household recycling rates across the U.S.

RecycleBank announces the following highly anticipated launches: Montgomery, OH, Sioux Falls, SD, Eden Prairie and Maple Grove, MN,Carrollton and Plano, TX, North Miami, FL, Wichita, KS, Albuquerque, NM and Knoxville, TN. In each case, RecycleBank has partnered with waste haulers,material recovery facilities and municipalities to bring rewards for recycling to local residents.

"This is an incredibly exciting time in our company's history," said CEO and co-founder of RecycleBank, Ron Gonen. "The value we are creating inthe municipalities we service is fueling tremendous demand for our program."

RecycleBank rewards people for recycling. With RecycleBank, members earn Points for every pound recycled, similar to frequent flier milesprograms. All recycling carts carry an ID tag read by recycling trucks during curbside pickup. RecycleBank weighs the contents and convertsrecyclables into Points that get delivered into personal RecycleBank.com accounts.Members use their Points to shop online or via toll free number.Rewards range from groceries and health care products, to movies, spa and travel.

Municipalities look to RecycleBank to dramatically increase recycling rates while lowering landfill fees and creating greener, cleanercommunities. RecycleBank also has partnerships with a number of local and national haulers including Allied Waste Services, Waste Connections,Republic Services, Novak Sanitary Service (a Waste Connections company), Rumpke Recycling, AAA Recycling, and Leck and Sons.

RecycleBank has increased recycling rates by 100 percent in the municipalities that it services. In addition to a significant increase in recycling, thesecommunities also see a corresponding reduction in landfill disposal fees, a disposable income boost for households that recycle, and a renewed focus on sustainable action to protect our environment.

RecycleBank benefits participants all along the value chain. Working with existing recycling infrastructure, cities save significant moniesthrough landfill diversion while earning through the multi-billion dollar market in recyclable sales. Haulers build brand loyalty and gain customeracquisition in a grossly hyper-competitive market.

Residents reap rewards by accruing Points for recycling which gains them on average, $200 - $300dollars in reward value each year. Local merchants benefit through increased earnings and the revitalization of vibrant and viable localeconomies as rewards are redeemed within communities.

During tough economic times like these, incentives to recycle are helping all.Most important, RecycleBank is helping the environment. To date, RecycleBank households have saved over 559,475 trees, over 37 milliongallons of oil, over 200 million gallons of water; and successfully diverted in excess of 59,946 tons of waste from landfills. Having secured$30 million in Series B funding in April 2008 from leading venture capital firms, RecycleBank was just named by Newsweek as one of "the hottest plays"in green investing.

In honor of America Recycles Day (November 15th), RecycleBank will debut The Cycle, an animated interactive look at the process of singlestream recycling and materials reprocessing. The Cycle, created and produced by RecycleBank, answers the question of 'What happens to myrecyclables after I put them out and they are collected?' It takes viewers through each step of the process in an entertaining and fanciful way, whileeducating them on what really is involved in using recyclables again and on America Recycles Day.

Video Blog: RecycleBank Increases Philadelphia Recycling By 30 Percent

11/14/2008