Word: recyclebank
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...Gonen, though, is going to make recycling worth your while. The former management consultant co-founded RecycleBank in 2004 with a simple idea: that people want to recycle, but they just need a little push. So Gonen decided to appeal to their pocketbooks. Here's how it works: every family on a garbage route is issued a special container with a computer chip. When garbage trucks pick up the recycling, they weigh the container and record how much each family is recycling by weight. The more you recycle, the more RecycleBank points you earn, which can be redeemed for offers...
...Gonen, the key to RecycleBank's success isn't just the economic incentive; it's also about a sense of accomplishment. By actually tracking what individual families recycle, the service gives people a more accurate idea of what they're doing for the Earth. You know that your recycling is being counted, not just tossed down a landfill. Metrics matter - measuring something is the first step to encouraging better behavior. "There's so little measurement around recycling," says Gonen, a Columbia Business School grad who came up with the RecycleBank concept in class. "But RecycleBank tries to ensure that everything...
Gonen, whose company is being flooded with offers from venture capitalists, wants to grow RecycleBank gradually. But earlier this year he went after a new target: college campuses. Starting with a pilot program at New York City's Columbia University, RecycleBank is putting special kiosks in cafeterias and dorms. Each student gets a RecycleBank card and takes their recycling to the closest kiosk, where they swipe their card, weigh their recycling and claim their points. The campus model required a little tweaking on Gonen's part - the dorm kiosks, he notes, are prank-proof (you can douse them in beer...
...begin thinking a bit more about your impact on the Earth. "There are so many environmental initiatives out there that are important," says Gonen. "Solar, wind, biofuels. But these are all huge, capital-intensive projects. Most of us can't do that, but everyone can recycle." I just hope RecycleBank comes to Brooklyn soon - my newspapers are piling...
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