Adventures in RecycleBank

[lucille]

Our trash hauler signed up for a program called RecycleBank. They provide you with a huge rolling trash can with a RFID chip in it. You fill it with co-mingled recyclables, your garbage hauler picks it up twice a month. The trucks have a scale and chip reader in the can lifts that weight and record your recycling by weight.

You then get points from RecycleBank that you can use for various discounts and free items from 12 packs of Pepsi products to gift cards for over 300 retailers, hotels and restaurants. We also found we could get $5 off coupons for the local grocery stores we use.

We have been averaging about 120-170 point per pick up. So far we were up to 380 with three pick ups completed. So this got me thinking about a way to use this to either pay for a family vacation or heavily subsidize one. $10 gift cards are 1200 points. Another strategy I had thought of was to use those $5 off rebates for the grocery store and after using it put $5 into a savings acct. or envelope since I would have paid that $5 at the store without the rebate. This would get me $10 for every 100 points earned. So it would increase faster than saving to buy the $10 gift cards since $5 off our grocery orders are only 50 points.

If anyone else has Recyclebank or similar programs I would love to hear what you use yours for.
Their website is www.recyclebank.com

[MoneyTrev]

Wow. I would love to have a recycle bank where I live.

We separate our trash and this can give us benefits as to doing that.

[lucille]

Originally Posted by MoneyTrev

Wow. I would love to have a recycle bank where I live.

We separate our trash and this can give us benefits as to doing that.

When I lived in California they had a municipal system where you could take glass, tin cans and aluminum cans and get cash back for them. They ran them in grocery store parking lots.

I am not sure what it takes to get a local garbage hauler on the program, it wouldn't hurt to ask. I am not sure if they are taking on new areas with the price of scrap materials tanking right now.

[MoneyTrev]

Originally Posted by lucille

When I lived in California they had a municipal system where you could take glass, tin cans and aluminum cans and get cash back for them. They ran them in grocery store parking lots.

I am not sure what it takes to get a local garbage hauler on the program, it wouldn't hurt to ask. I am not sure if they are taking on new areas with the price of scrap materials tanking right now.

I see. Well, i'll go check it out. Maybe we do have one but i'm just unaware.

[starshard0]

I always just assumed that you could just take all your recyclables to the recycling center and get money for it all over the U.S.. Is that right?

[gt0163c]

Originally Posted by starshard0

I always just assumed that you could just take all your recyclables to the recycling center and get money for it all over the U.S.. Is that right?

No. There are only recycling centers in some areas of the country and only some of those will give you money for recycling materials. Where I am (Fort Worth, Texas) we have curbside recycling that will take most paper, plastic (anything with a recycle symbol) and metal. We load it up into one big container (no sorting) that's identical to our trash cans with the exception of color, put it out on the street and the recycling truck comes and takes it away on trash day. We pay for our trash pickup based on the size of trash container and recycling is included. The default is to have the same size recycling container as your trash container is, but you can upgrade to a bigger recycling container for no extra charge.

We do have a recycling center where you can drop things off, but that is mostly for hazardous chemicals (paint, fertilizer, batteries and such) that they won't take in the common recycling bins or in the trash. There's not charge for dropping things off but they also don't pay you for them.

[lucille]

Originally Posted by starshard0

I always just assumed that you could just take all your recyclables to the recycling center and get money for it all over the U.S.. Is that right?

The only thing you can take to local recycling centers and drop off or get money for is aluminum soda cans. You can drop off plastic soda bottles for free but get nothing for them. You can drop off electronics for a fairly hefty fee. They started co-mingled recycling for the local garbage haulers last year. That included coragated cardboard, aluminum cans and plastic bottles. You get that picked up as included in your garbage service but no pay back. The company that started the recycle bank program with their garbage service accepts glass, plastics 1-7, plastic bags, thin cardboard like cereal boxes, aluminum steel & tin cans, coragated cardboard, newspapers and office paper.

[Mavourneen]

What a great idea! I hope this spreads!!!

[khorrell]

That sounds like an amazing program. We have curbside recycling and no deposit/refunds. I was amazed when I visited an aunt in New York - I made nearly $2 just cleaning the plastic and aluminum off the floor of my car. (I admit it, I have a Diet Coke problem.)

There are recyclers who will pay, but you need to have large amounts and it is a pain. Heck, I've gotten so spoiled by the comingled curbside pickup that I have a hard time sorting cans and paper for my kids' elementary school. I figure that I'm doing the most important part by recycling, and I try not to feel guilty that I'm not making money doing it.

[amandajane]

My local recylers don't pay you for dropping things off but you do get access to free paint. Wrongly mixed colours etc but great for jobs around the house anyway and fantastic for the environment. :0)