Philadelphia Rolling Out New Recycling Program

The City of Philadelphia’s Recycling Office - in partnership with RecycleBank and Blue Mountain Recycling – is rolling out a six-month pilot incentive program that will include 6,000 households in several city neighborhoods.

People who recycle glass, plastic, paper and metal will be able to earn $25 in retail credits monthly through a program developed by the Philadelphia-based company, Recyclebank. The material will be collected by Blue Mountain Recycling, a Philadelphia waste processor equipped to handle single-stream recycling.

Residents in the targeted neighborhoods will be issued 36-gallon recycling bins that contain individual bar codes. As recyclables are collected, the city will weigh the commingled materials, identify the bar code, and record a dollar value for each household. To discover the amount credited and order coupons from a list of participating merchants, residents will enter their account number at a web site (households without computer access may order coupons by phone).

To date, more than 50 local merchants-including major supermarket and pharmacy chains-have elected to participate in the program. Among the retail partners that support recycling and offer rewards are Starbucks, FedexKinko’s, ACME, ShopRite, and Whole Foods. As an alternative to applying their earned recycling credits to retail purchases, participants can opt to donate them to local charities.  

Banking on its probable success, the city expects to phase the program into other areas of Philadelphia after evaluating the demonstration project.

RecycleBank is currently discussing similar ventures with other municipalities and counties.