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Phila. goes into recycling overdrive | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/03/2009Page 1 of 5
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Posted on Thu, Dec. 3, 2009
Phila. goes into recycling
overdrive
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
This afternoon, Philadelphia will unveil its latest
ambitious recycling initiative, an incentive-based
program that city officials say could reward
households $240 a year for their participation and
save the city millions of dollars in landfill fees.
The program, titled Philadelphia Recycling Rewards,
will begin in February in North Philadelphia and will
be rolled out to a new section of the city every month
after that. It is expected to increase the city's
recycling rate dramatically by the end of next year.
Based on the total amount of recycled material in
their community, residents will earn points that can
be redeemed for discount coupons or gift cards at
hundreds of local and national businesses, including
supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, and
museums.
Points also can be used to make charitable
contributions or to help fund $5,000 "green" grants
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In an interview yesterday, Mayor Nutter called the
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Phila. goes into recycling overdrive
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Phila. goes into recycling overdrive | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/03/2009Page 2 of 5
He said the program - a federal grant is funding most
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Longtime Streets Department critic Maurice
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company Niche Recycling Inc., called the plan "a
brilliant concept. My hat's off to everyone involved."
"I think Philadelphians are really going to respond well to this," he added. "It answers that question, 'What's in it for
me?' "
Right now, the city pays $64 a ton to landfill its waste. It pays only 33 cents a ton to send recyclables to the Blue
Mountain sorting facility in the Grays Ferry section of the city.
But Streets Commissioner Clarena I.W. Tolson said the market for recyclables was currently low. In the past, when
commodity prices were higher, the city has been paid as much as $44 a ton for recyclables - a $108 differential
between recycling and landfilling.
In a city with 580,000 tons of waste a year, "those are significant numbers," she said.
The program, which will resemble successful efforts in Cherry Hill and other suburbs, is a partnership with
RecycleBank, a company that was cofounded by Ron Gonen, a former area resident and 1993 Germantown
Academy graduate.
Gonen said the Philadelphia partnership was especially gratifying since it was the city that gave his fledgling company
its first business with a pilot program instituted in 2005.
"They're the ones that gave us a chance," Gonen said. "We owe them a lot."
RecycleBank, a for-profit company, now provides services to more than one million members in 20 states - including
more than two dozen municipalities in this region - and the United Kingdom.
The Philadelphia program will be the largest in the United States, according to the city and the company.
Recycling in the city was begun in 1989, and rates remained among the lowest in the nation for urban areas. When
Nutter took office, it was a lackluster 7 percent.
At that time, recyclables were picked up only every other week, sometimes not even on the same day as the trash,
and residents had to sort recyclables - paper separate from plastic, for instance.
The nonprofit Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia amassed 13,000 signatures on a petition asking for weekly pickups
and single-stream recycling, in which all recyclables can be put into one bin.
The city did both, and the recycling rate increased to 12.4 percent by July, the end of fiscal 2009, saving the city $4.8
million in landfill costs.
In October, the rate was an all-time high of 15.6 percent.
Nutter said he was confident that, with the new program, the city would meet its goals of a 20 percent diversion rate
by the end of 2011, and a 25 percent rate by 2015.
A federal grant of $708,400 is paying for the equipment - radio tags for household bins and equipment on the trucks
that can "read" the tags - and RecycleBank is funding other initial costs.
The company won't be paid until recycling rates increase, Gonen said. At that point, it will get between 30 and 65
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percent of the money the city saves on avoided landfill fees, based on how much recycling rates actually increase.
"So we are motivated to make sure everyone recycles as much as possible," Gonen said.
Residents can sign up now online (www.PhillyRecyclingPAYS.com) or by phone (1-888-769-7960), which will earn
them 100 bonus points for early registration.
They will receive a free radio tag by mail that identifies each participating home and can be affixed to any hard-sided
container. (In other communities, RecycleBank has provided containers, but that costs more money and led to
complaints that the bins were too big, too small, or an unsightly color.)
Registrants can monitor, redeem, or donate their points online or by phone in a process the city says is comparable to
shopping online.
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The city will tally recycling amounts not by household, but by the community overall, making it pointless to, say, steal a
neighbor's recyclables.
Katie Edwards, a recycling advocate at the Clean Air Council and a member of the alliance, said the neighborhood-
based program also will help build community.
"The easiest way to spread the word, I feel, is neighbor to neighbor, from a trusted source," she said.
In the new Philadelphia program, households will also earn points based on reductions in waste sent to landfills.
Tolson said this would encourage people to buy in bulk, look for items with less packaging, and take other steps to
reduce their waste.
That impressed Lori Braunstein, executive director of Sustainable Cherry Hill, an independent nonprofit.
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RecycleBank began a program in the township in 2008. In the first year, recycling increased 100 percent and the
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township saved $700,000 in waste disposal fees.
Residents earned more than 19 million bonus points, redeemable for $500,000 in products and services.
Braunstein said residents were excited about the incentives, but many she has talked to said they had not yet
bothered to redeem them. They just liked the idea.
But when the community put out a challenge, asking people to donate their points to several "green" school projects,
they responded enthusiastically, Braunstein said.
Within days, Cherry Hill East High School had $5,000 for a greenhouse and an organic gardening program.
Contact staff writer Sandy Bauers at 215-854-5147 or sbauers@phillynews.com.
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Comments
Posted 08:43 AM, 12/03/2009
Sillimish
Went to the website and there is no sign up area. Is there a more specific link?
Sign in to report abuse
Posted 09:25 AM, 12/03/2009
rabbit23
website worked fine for me - just signed up - this is a huge win for Nutter and the city and the environment - RecycleBank
is a great company and we are finally showing the rest of the country how to do something right. Congrats Mayor!
Sign in to report abuse
Posted 09:33 AM, 12/03/2009
lennybowie
Click on the hyperlink for the sticker and that takes you to the registration page.
Sign in to report abuse
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