Recycle Bank???

**many houseapes** · 01-17-2011, 04:14 PM

Our city has just switched to an automated recycle pickup system. Along with this new system comes an option for residents to set up a recycle bank account which will earn you reward points for every time the city picks up your recyclebles. With these reward points you can turn them in for gift cards, etc.
I am new to this. Does anyone here participate in the Recycle Bank rewards program & if so, do you think its worth it? How many points do you average in one pick up?

**savvy_sniper** · 01-17-2011, 04:22 PM

My MIL has this. There is a chip in your recycling bin and it is registered to your address/account. I believe the points are awarded based on the weight when recycling is picked up.

So a lot depends on how much you put in the recycling bin and WHAT you put in the recycling bin. We don't have curbside recycling; so we take our recycling to her house.

She earns lots of points and gets gift cards for restaurants. Yesterday we helped her print some dog food coupons.

Recycling is very important to her (and us) and it is a bonus to be rewarded for doing so. So why wouldn't you do it?

**Natalie's Nesters** · 01-17-2011, 04:27 PM

How cool is that! I wish we had that or even curbside service. I must bag ours up and take it to the dump...they have a recycle bin.

**Telephus44** · 01-17-2011, 05:49 PM

Our trash hauler just discontinued this (boo hiss!) I used to save up for the Amazon GC's - I got about $20 a year. They are a lot of points compared to other options. We got around 40-100 points per pickup depending on how heavy that week was.

**handerson2005** · 01-18-2011, 06:28 AM

Our HOA participates. We really like it! The points accumulate based on the weight of your recycling. We usually get between 40-60 points (with a 30 gallon tote). They go into an online account, where you log in to select your rewards. The rewards that are offered are based on your location and what's being offered by local businesses (though some are national businesses too).

We've gotten coupons for our grocery store (spend $x, get $y off), a subscription to Smart money magazine, restaurant discounts, and a few other things. There are also ways to donate the points to charities, and get gift cards (though, the point exchange for those don't seem to be a good deal).

**Rhiamon** · 01-19-2011, 08:20 AM

This is such a cool idea I have never heard of such a thing before. I live in an apartment so something like that would never work for me. But it is still pretty cool.