Eighty-two percent of people want to practice sustainability, such as recycling, but few actually do, according to Paul Winn, chief revenue officer of Recyclebank, LLC, a B-Corp-certified company dedicated to creating a zero-waste future. To overcome that inertia, Recyclebank created a patented behavior-change program that is also an economic opportunity for local businesses while it educates and incentivizes individuals.
Residents who enroll as Recyclebank members earn points for various actions, and can spend their accumulated points through offers at participating merchants. To the merchant, this participation is free (cost incurred is the value of whatever offer they choose to extend). And the benefit? “We have more than 60,000 members [in Phoenix], and we market local merchants to them,” Winn explains. CopperStar Coffee and the Phoenix Art Museum are among 212 reward partners currently in Recyclebank’s catalogue of more than 290 offers available to Phoenicians.
Since January of this year, Recyclebank has been charged with supporting the Reimagine Phoenix initiative and its goal of diverting 40 percent of the trash from landfills by 2020 through increased residential participation. The partnership it entered into in October with Local First Arizona enhanced its rewards catalogue with discounts on products and services from an even greater number of local businesses.
