Cincinnati To Become Largest Midwest City To Reward Residents For Recycling With RecycleBank Citywide

Cincinnati, OH - As the leaves turn brown this fall, Cincinnati residents will have incentives to turn green when the City furthers its commitment to environmental quality and unveils an enhanced recycling program, slated to begin this October. The City officially announced recently that it is partnering with waste hauler Rumpke Recycling, recycling cart manufacturer Cascade Engineering, and rewards program RecycleBank to incent the recycling process. Following a City Council vote in May, Cincinnati is moving forward with a new program that gives residents larger carts and rewards for recycling. Cincinnati is the largest Midwest city to deploy RecycleBank citywide; other Midwest areas with RecycleBank include suburbs of Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Omaha, Sioux Falls, and a pilot program in three wards of Chicago.

"The City is excited to provide this innovative new service to citizens," Mayor Mark L. Mallory said. "People are looking for creative new ways to become more ‘green' in their everyday lives. The larger recycling carts are going to allow people to recycle much more than they do now, and the great part is that they will be rewarded for how much they recycle."

RecycleBank is a rewards program that motivates people to take greener actions, like household recycling, by rewarding them with points that are redeemable for rewards from local and national retailers, restaurants, pharmacies, grocers, and more. Similar to frequent flier programs, the more a community recycles, the more RecycleBank Points participating households earn. Single- or multi-family residences with Cincinnati curbside trash service are eligible to participate in the program free of charge.

With each roll out, communities will switch from weekly to bi-weekly recycling pick up. By switching to bi-weekly pick up, Cincinnati will save an estimated $700,000 in collection costs. In addition, with the expected increase in recycling, the City looks to save an estimated $364,000 annually in landfill disposal fees. This is all on top of residents receiving points redeemable for valuable rewards for recycling.

"This strategic partnership will allow us to offer enhanced recycling services more efficiently," City Manager Milton Dohoney said. "It really is a win-win situation for everyone. It allows us to be good stewards of public monies and RecycleBank will help bring valuable benefits to Cincinnati residents who recycle and drive business to our neighborhood business districts."

The four-phase rollout of recycling carts begins this fall and citywide implementation is expected to take up to five months. Cascade will deliver the recycling carts complete with the new recycling schedule and information for residents on signing up with RecycleBank. The rewards-for-recycling program has hundreds of partners for residents to redeem points for rewards, including Nature Made, Coca-Cola, CVS/pharmacy, Huggies, McDonald's, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Dick's Sporting Goods, among others. Local partners include Half Price Books, Pipkin's Market, Park + Vine, Champps Entertainment and more. In the coming months, RecycleBank will work to get additional local businesses involved in the rewards program.

RecycleBank isn't new to some residents in Hamilton County. Montgomery residents have increased their recycling rate by 39 percent since October 2008, when Rumpke partnered with RecycleBank.

"As a leading recycling firm in the Midwest, Rumpke acknowledges we have a responsibility to our customers," Rumpke Vice President Jeff Rumpke said. "We know they are depending on Rumpke to discover and implement the best options to manage the waste society produces. Remaining on the forefront of technology in this industry is a must. That's the reason we've invested in new processing systems at our material recovery facility and we're proud to partner with the City of Cincinnati to implement RecycleBank in this region."

RecycleBank Midwest General Manager Atul Nanda said, "RecycleBank is helping to create a culture that encourages people to take simple steps towards greener lifestyles. In other cities, we've helped to double, triple, and even quadruple recycling rates. We're excited to further expand our services in Ohio and bring valuable rewards to the families in Cincinnati, while helping the City reach its environmental goals."

"By adopting new technology and proven strategies, I am confident we will double the volume of recyclables collected and reach our 25 percent diversion goal by 2012," Cincinnati's Office of Environmental Quality Director Larry Falkin said.

Falkin said that the City is using $750,000 from the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) awarded to Cincinnati through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), or "Stimulus Act", to manage the program and to purchase the new recycling carts. Funds for the recycling program cannot be used for the City's general operating expenses, such as police services, garbage collection or health services, he added.

RecycleBank currently services more than one million people across 26 states and in the United Kingdom. Since 2005, more than 300 participating communities have recycled over 284,291 tons of material, helping to save close to 35 million gallons oil, 4.2 million trees, and a reduction of 866,811 metric tonnes in carbon emissions.

SOURCE: RecycleBank