Recycling pays...

Philadelphia has been running a trial program to reward homeowners who recycle a higher percentage of their household waste, rather than throwing everything into the trash and thence to municipal dump sites. The test was in Chestnut Hill, where residents were rewarded with coupons to local businesses for points accrued through weight of materials recycled. Well, it appears that the program has been a huge success, raising participation three-fold. The current program is run through a company called RecycleBank, which puts a barcode on each recycling bin, thus crediting the right household for curbside waste. I'm sure that there are some tricks to bringing this program into Center City, ranging from how to include renters, to what to do about pedestrians that throw trash and other stuff into curbside bins, to how well the default bins work in more crowded city homes. But I will be interested to see what develops.

Open question: how does this program (the test or the city-wide version) relate to this other new recycling program, "recycling pays," being promoted in the subways and elsewhere? Perhaps they're trying to raise awareness in anticipation of the widening of the program above . . .

(via America's Hometown)