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Philadelphia Expands Recycling Rewards Program With Recycle Bank
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At the Fresh Grocer, a rewards partner in historic Sullivan Progress Plaza, Mayor Michael A. Nutter officially marked the first week of Recycling Rewards collections in the Art Museum area, Fairmount, Brewerytown, parts of North Philadelphia, Northern Liberties, Kensington, Fishtown and Port Richmond and encouraged all city residents to sign up for the program.
Philadelphia Recycling Rewards will be rolled-out monthly over six months based on sanitation service areas with the entire City receiving service by July.
Philadelphia Recycling Rewards is a partnership between the City of Philadelphia, the Streets Department and RecycleBank. The program allows residents with City provided recycling collection to earn points that are redeemed through RecycleBank for groceries, gift cards, merchandise and entertainment at hundreds of participating local and national merchants.
Philadelphia is proud to be the largest City in the United States to reward its residents for their recycling efforts.
"I am thrilled to bring Recycling Rewards, a partnership with Philadelphia's own RecycleBank, to Philadelphia. Recycling has always paid off in several ways, but never before so directly," said Mayor Nutter. "Recycling has always saved the environment through diverting refuse from the land fills, saved the City money by paying less in landfill fees, and now it will save residents money by allowing them to use their rewards at area businesses. With the opportunity to get rewarded, I expect every Philadelphian to join their neighbors in recycling."
Residents in Philadelphia can earn hundreds of dollars worth of rewards for recycling each year. They can redeem their rewards at many of local businesses including: Fresh Grocer, ACME, select Shop Rite Locations, Rite Aid, CVS/pharmacy, Rita's Water Ice, Las Cazuelas, Reading Terminal Market, Second Street Pizza, London Grill, and hundreds more.
Major retailers and national brands such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, Seventh Generation, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ruby Tuesday and Bed, Bath & Beyond also participate. Philadelphians will also have an option to donate their Recycling Rewards to environmental initiatives at local schools through the RecycleBank Green Schools Program.
Philadelphia Recycling Rewards is anticipated to bring the City's recycling diversion rate-- the amount of recyclable materials that are diverted away from landfills—to record levels. Every ton of waste diverted from landfills currently saves the city about $70.
The program is a "pay for performance" contract and shares the savings for additional tons of recycling collected above and beyond current levels. This means RecycleBank only gets paid when the City increases recycling and reduces trash.
"Philadelphia took the initiative in 2005 to be the very first city to pilot our service and since then we have grown to service millions of people across 25 states and the UK. We are proud and excited to have the opportunity to continue to service Philadelphia." said Ron Gonen, CEO and co-founder of RecycleBank. "We look forward to helping the City of Philadelphia become a model of urban environmental management, reaching and surpassing their Greenworks Philadelphia Goals."
"We're delighted to be part of a local environmental program that changes behavior," said Patrick J. Burns, President and CEO of Fresh Grocer. "At The Fresh Grocer, we are dedicated to operating our stores with an ongoing commitment to the environment. Partnering with RecycleBank and rewarding our customers for recycling certainly aligns with our mission."
Clarena I. W. Tolson, Streets Commissioner stated, "This program not only makes the City greener by increasing recycling rates and saving the City from costly landfill fees; it puts some green back into the pockets of our local residents by giving them points redeemable at local businesses."
The Mayor has set ambitious goals with Greenworks Philadelphia, which has recycling goals including a 20 percent diversion rate by 2011 and 25 percent by 2015. Philadelphia Recycling Rewards powered by RecycleBank will help the City achieve and hopefully exceed those goals.
The Philadelphia Recycling Rewards roll-out schedule is as follows:
February - North Philadelphia, March - Lower Northeast, Frankford and Logan Sections, April - West and Southwest Philadelphia, May - Center City and South Philadelphia, June - Northeast Philadelphia and July - Northwest Philadelphia.
For more information about Philadelphia Recycling Rewards Program, and to sign-up for a rewards account, please visit www.PhillyRecyclingPAYS.com or call the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards Customer Affairs Unit at 1-888-769-7960.
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2/8/2010 |
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