Westland Mayor William R. Wild Adds Recycling Incentives For Residents through His Mission: Green Initiative
RecycleBank Launches Rewards-for-Recycling Program Citywide in Westland
Westland, MI - This month, Westland, Mich., Mayor William R. Wild successfully ushered a new citywide, curbside recycling program that offers meaningful and valuable rewards to the city's residents while also aiming to dramatically increase household recycling rates. Through his Mission: Green initiative, Mayor Wild shepherded RecycleBank, the rewards-for-recycling program, to more than 26,000 households in Westland. RecycleBank encourages people to recycle by awarding households with RecycleBank Points that can be redeemed at local and national retailers, restaurants, grocers, and more. In addition, Westland looks to save a considerable amount of money through diverting recyclables away from the costly waste stream and into a profitable recycling commodities market.
"Partnering with RecycleBank is a great way to protect our environment, invigorate our local economy, keep our community clean, and deliver meaningful, everyday savings to the residents of Westland," Mayor Wild said. "Everybody wins."
In June, single-family households were provided with 96-gallon wheeled recycling carts that feature an ID tag, which match the cart to the household address and an account number. Republic Services trucks, retrofitted with special technology, track recycling activity. Once the pick-up route is complete, the total weight of the amount of material the community recycled is divided among participating households and then converted into RecycleBank Points. Similar to frequent flier programs, the more a community recycles, the more RecycleBank Points each household earns.
Members can watch their RecycleBank Points grow online at www.RecycleBank.com or by calling the RecycleBank Customer Care Center at 1.888.727.2978. RecycleBank Points are redeemed for rewards, gift cards, groceries and products with national reward partners such as Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Ruby Tuesday, and CVS/pharmacy, as well as local participating Westland businesses like The Westland Shopping Center, Heartland Marketplace, Nankin Hardware, Marvaso's Italian Grille, and Palace Supermarket. There is also an option to donate RecycleBank Points to charities and to local school environmental programs.
Mayor Wild views the RecycleBank program as real value for his residents, knowing that on average, members will earn hundreds of dollars in reward value each year through their recycling efforts. With all the belt-tightening that is happening right now, that translates into a lot of free groceries from local supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as discounts on entertainment, travel, and more.
"Having long called Westland home, it has been a goal of my administration to make environmentally conscious decisions that help ensure the long term sustainability of our great city." Mayor Wild said. "Working with RecycleBank and Republic Services enables us to meet our recycling goals while giving something back to the residents who have also made a home out of Westland. During these hard times, getting money off groceries, clothing, or even getting free movie tickets is of significant value."
RecycleBank CEO and co-founder Ron Gonen said that one of RecycleBank's goals is to motivate people to recycle, diverting the amount of waste sent to landfills. "Another goal is to invigorate local economies, and we see that a majority of RecycleBank members use more than half of their earned Points with local rewards partners, providing economic development and involving the local business community in the city's recycling effort," Gonen said.
"We're proud to partner with Westland to bring our recycling program to the city's residents, proving that environmental solutions offer great economic value," Gonen added. "Mayor Wild has truly exhibited environmental leadership by bringing RecycleBank to Westland, showing residents that recycling is something that they can do today to truly make a difference tomorrow."
RecycleBank services more than one million people across 20 states. By cumulative recycling efforts, those households have recycled more than 176,524 tons of material, saving close to 118 million gallons of oil and more than 1.7 million trees.
Bi-weekly pickup for Westland residents began June 29, 2009.
SOURCE: RecycleBank