Rep. Scott Hutchinson, Chair, Patrick Fitzgerald, RecycleBank, Sen. Ray Musto, Vice Chairman

Representatives of RecycleBank and the City of Philadelphia Recycling Office told the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee their new program to provide residents with incentives to recycle has tripled both the amount of recyclables collected and the participation rate in pilot areas of the City.

The new Philadelphia recycling program provides residents with up to $25 per month in coupons they can convert to real dollars and spend with participating sponsors or donate them to nonprofit groups.

“We went from collecting 9 pounds of recyclables per house per week to an average of 30 pounds of recyclables,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, co-founder of RecycleBank, a for-profit recycling management firm based in Philadelphia. “And our participation rates went from 30 percent to 90 percent.”

“We were able to build partnerships with Coca-Cola, Acme, Staples, Starbucks, TLA Video and local businesses to participate in the program,” said Ron Gonen, RecycleBank’s other co-founder. “For them it’s a marketing opportunity, for residents participating in our program, it’s a reward for doing something good-- recycling.”

David Robinson, Recycling Coordinator for the City, said they were leery of the concept at first.

“We weren’t sure at first how people would respond to the program and how clean the material would be,” said Robinson. “What we found is people are call up our enforcement officers and asking what they can put in the recycling containers. They’re really careful about what they recycle because the more they recycle the more it benefits them.”

Under the program, each household receives a new 32 gallon recycling container with recycling instructions right on the lid. All the recyclables—plastics, glass, metal, newspapers, bond paper and cardboard – go into the same container making it convenient. (In recycling lingo this is known as single-stream recycling.)

The other partner in the program -- Blue Mountain Recycling – does the job of sorting and marketing the material through their existing contract with Smurfit-Stone.

RecycleBank makes its money only if the program increases recycling. They will get a percentage of the landfill fees the City avoids paying since it does not have to send the extra recyclables they collect to a landfill or incinerator.

The program is becoming so popular, RecycleBank is now in discussions with Abington Township, Montgomery County, the City of Baltimore, the state of Delaware and other areas to start programs in their area.

RecycleBank is also starting a new program in several schools this fall to provide not only savings for the schools involved, but also an educational lesson for students.

“A school-wide recycling program will save on waste disposal costs and each student gets his or her own account as their share of the recycling effort,” said Gonen. “They learn what working together accomplishes.”

Committee chairman Rep. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango) said this kind of recycling program could serve as a model for communities across the state.

For more information visit the Recycling Pays Program and RecycleBank websites.

NewsClip: Recycling Rewards Come to West Oak Lane

6/17/2005