Cash for Trash Spurs Recycling Boom

On trash day, residents bring the bin to the curb. Garbage trucks retrofitted with scales and sensors weigh the recycling bin, identify the address by the bin's electronic tag and add the weight to the household's point tally.

And just in case anyone tries to tip the scales unfairly -- say by throwing cinder blocks in the recycling bin -- the truck has a big red reject button.

"If something doesn't belong inside the bin at all, we hit the red button, it rejects the load and they get no points at all for it," Capitol Waste worker Joao Boga said.

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Residents redeem their points as discounts and rebates at dozens of local and national retailers, up to $45 a month. Businesses donate the coupons to encourage sales.

Residents can log on to RecycleBank's Web site to see a running total of both financial and environmental rewards. "I have saved almost a whole tree and I've saved 64 gallons of oil," Colameta said.

90 Cities and Counting

So far, RecycleBank is operating in 90 communities in 13 states.

Since Cherry Hill, N.J., launched the RecycleBank program in June, its recycling rate has doubled from 11 pounds per home per week to 22 pounds.

Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt rated the program a success, saying the "incentive-based, single-stream system is a brilliant change to the overall recycling process."

The township's coffers have also increased because of revenue from the recyclable material and from reduced trash-removal fees. The expected savings are a green $300,000 to $400,000 this year.

Recycling participation is now up to 85 percent in Wilmington, Del., since the city partnered with RecycleBank in 2006.

Before the program, 2 percent of Wilmington's total waste was recycled. Now, 34 percent is recycled. Still, the city has not yet saved enough to pay for the $2 per home it pays RecycleBank. City officials hope to break even when 50 percent of waste is recycled.

Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker says the rewards program "provides our citizens with another reason to recycle beyond the already rewarding environmental reason."