RecycleBank Jump Starts New Jersey Curbside Program

RecycleBank, a rewards program that can be adopted by municipalities, has added Cherry Hill, N.J., as its 27th municipality in the U.S. to deploy its program.

After just one week of collection, the town has already seen homes in the pilot program more than double the amount of waste being recycled, according to New York-based RecycleBank.

The RecycleBank program is designed to motivate households and communities to recycle by rewarding each household for the amount of recyclables it has generated. RecycleBank measures the amount of material recycled and then converts the amount into points that can be used at hundreds of local and national RecycleBank Reward Partners (retailers and restaurants).

Cherry Hill was looking for an innovative way to reduce its landfill fees while raising its curbside recycling rates. The RecycleBank program seems to have succeeded: After the first week of participation, there has been a 134 percent increase in recycling rates, with the amount of recyclables more than doubling from about 12 pounds per household to nearly 26 pounds.

“The Township of Cherry Hill set a goal to become a more sustainable city by increasing recycling rates and lowering waste output,” says Bernie Platt, mayor of Cherry Hill. “By collaborating with a partner like RecycleBank, we are able to bring this market-driven and proven recycling rewards program to Cherry Hill and are able to take a step forward in achieving our goals."

Cherry Hill residents can redeem their RecycleBank points with reward partners like Coca-Cola, IKEA, Starbucks, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Whole Foods, as well as with local Cherry Hill retailers such as ACME, Norma’s, Erlton Bike Shop and Pat’s Pizza.

“As RecycleBank continues to expand into larger municipalities like Cherry Hill, our vision to preserve the environment one home at a time becomes more and more of a reality,” says Ron Gonen, CEO of RecycleBank.

RecycleBank is partially owned by RRE Ventures and Sigma Partners as its largest institutional shareholder group and Ron Gonen, the co-founder and CEO, as the largest individual shareholder.