feed your piggybank when you recycle.

the recyclebank co-founder and ceo, ron gonen, has found a way to motivate americans to recycle more and better.

he has set up a process for every household on a garbage route to be allotted a recycling bin with a computer chip installed. the computer chip reads when the bin is dumped. depending upon the weight in the bin the household builds up points in their recyclebank. the points can be used at merchants such as cvs or starbucks.

in the bank's hometown of philadelphia, pennsylvania, one neighbourhood's recycling efforts soared from 7% to 90%! totally exciting!

the beauty behind a system like this is not only is it encouraging households to be more aware of their recycling process in a way everyone understands--free money, but it cuts down on the amount of junk going in landfills. that then lessens the number of trucks driving to landfills. thus the air is clearer of those nasty carbon emissions. the best payout might just be the satisfaction that household is feeling knowing they're doing their part to help better the world. that rush of pride will motivate them to continue.

would you be more careful and aware of your recycling habits if you knew your next latte' could be free?

on recyclebank's homepage it lists the number of trees and gallons of oil saved. kinda cool to see those numbers. even cooler if i knew i was contributing to the savings.

unfortunately, recyclebank hasn't made it to my san francisco neighbourhood yet. they're currently serving pennsylvania, massachusetts, new york, new jersey, delaware and vermont. but i filled out the form requesting info and you can too to see when they'll be in your corner of the country!

treehugger also recognized recyclebank for their reward program.

note: the bank points alternatively can be donated to charity.

do your part.