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Get Rewarded for Thinking Sustainably

Do you turn off the sink while you brush your teeth? Do you do all your bills online so you don’t produce wasteful paperwork? Is reduce-reuse-recycle your life motto but your upset because after making years of sustainable decisions you have nothing to show for it?  Well your now in luck, the website Recycle Bank has created a system that allows people to get rewarded for their green decisions

Recycle Bank was founded with the mission “to motivate individuals and communities to realize a world in which nothing is wasted”.  Recycle Bank was originally focused solely on increasing recycling rates but has since expanded to include curbing energy and water consumption, encouraging smarter transportation, and strengthening local economies. By using a carrot only approach RecycleBank has expanded to over 3.7 million members since it was founded in 2004.  

Reaping RecycleBank’s rewards is easy. Users can create can create an account through their email or facebook. After signing up, you are given the option to take green pledges, educational courses and pledges for which you earn points. When you are happy with how many points you earn, you can then cash them in for a range of prizes including discounts, gift certificates, and magazine subscriptions. According to RecycleBank, members on average earn over $130 in rewards a year.

In order to provide rewards, RecycleBank partners with a large range of organizations and businesses. RecycleBank partners with both local and national businesses, including Coca Cola, SC Johnson, Johnson & Johnson. These partnerships not only help RecycleBank provide rewards but they also work with RecycleBank on education programs.

 For the beginning of the new school year RecycleBank has put together EcoAcademy. EcoAcademy focuses on sustainable choices relating to going to school but also covers other topics including home maintenance.  EcoAcademy includes quizzes and other challenges which can be counted towards your points and you can also be entered to win $5,000.

RecycleBank’s idea of rewarding members for attempting to practice sustainability is a slightly flawed system. RecycleBank’s users can collect rewards from RecycleBank without actually committing to the changes they pledge to make.  What RecycleBank hopes is that through the pledging and other educational tasks users will have a greater understanding of sustainability options available and will make changes on their own.

Since theirs no loss joining RecycleBank I think I’m gonna join. What’s the worse that could happen? I learn a few new sustainability tips and get rewarded for it?

Open Gift via Shutterstock

by Maddie Perlman-Gabel

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