City of Atlanta Launches Pilot Incentive Based Recycling Program

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) Atlanta, Georgia – TK – The City of Atlanta announced today that a select group of Atlanta residents will soon be rewarded for their curbside recycling efforts. In an effort to encourage proper recycling habits, boost recycling participation, reduce the amount of recyclables being sent to area landfills and save taxpayer money, City officials introduced the pilot rewards program as an opportune way to move towards a greener, cleaner Atlanta.

In order to complement Atlanta’s existing sustainability initiatives, the City of Atlanta has partnered with Rehrig Pacific, a container company and service provider, to bring a unique incentive based pilot recycling program to its residents.  As part of this pilot program, Rehrig Pacific has collaborated with key sponsor Coca-Cola Recycling, LLC and rewards partner RecycleBank® to offer Atlanta residents a premiere rewards and loyalty program that incentivizes household recycling.  City officials are confident they will see a rise in recycling volumes and a decrease in waste tonnages. In addition to the benefit to the environment, the rewards program will give residents and local businesses a needed economic boost.

The City of Atlanta selected 10,000 households for the incentive based pilot recycling program.  The participating households represent a cross section of recyclers throughout the City.  The RecycleBank® rewards program will encourage better participation in the curbside recycling program.  It will also allow the City to evaluate changes in the amounts of recyclables collected from residents participating in the pilot program.

“Incentive based recycling will help us to meet our recycling and sustainability goals while giving something back to our residents. During today’s recession and economic climate, saving money on groceries, on clothing, or at the pharmacy translates to great value. We have found a way to provide real financial rewards and help the environment at the same time,” said Mayor Franklin.

Each home in the pilot area will receive a brand new 96-gallon blue cart retrofitted with an ID tag to match the cart to the household address and a RecycleBank account number. City trucks have been retrofitted with technology to read the cart ID tag. Upon activating their account with RecycleBank, either online or by phone, the household will begin to earn RecycleBank Points with every pick-up.

Points can be redeemed for rewards, gift cards, groceries, and products at hundreds of local and national RecycleBank Reward Partners. Partners include giant national brands and retailers such as Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Target.com, Publix, and CVS/pharmacy, as well as local partners like Zoo Atlanta, Radial Café, Rita’s Water Ice, MetroFresh, Edgewood Avenue Pizza, and Six Feet Under. 

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), housed in Atlanta, is a significant player in making the Pilot Program a reality for their local neighbors. Through sponsorship dollars, they have enabled the purchase of the ten-thousand Rehrig Pacific blue recycling carts needed for the Pilot Program.

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

CITY OF ATLANTA
The City of Atlanta Recycling Program is a division of the Department of Public Works /Office of Solid Waste Services
(http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/publicworks/dpwrecyclingprogram_08192008.aspx).  This division promotes and supports recycling initiatives and programs, and educates City employees and the general public about waste reduction and recycling programs and opportunities.  This division also serves as a liaison with local, state, and federal agencies on recycling issues to ensure responsiveness to problems and concerns, prepares grant proposals and maintain records on the City’s recycling programs.  The ReCART incentive based curbside recycling pilot project is a prime example of the City’s efforts to increase the amount of recyclables going to productive end uses rather than to area landfills. 

REHRIG PACIFIC
For nearly 100 years, Rehrig Pacific (www.rehrigpacific.com) has helped companies and communities handle and transport a diverse range of goods using reusable/returnable transport packaging.  Headquartered in Los Angeles, Rehrig is an international company with operations worldwide that manufacture an ever-expanding product line of sustainable packaging products for the agriculture, bakery, beverage, dairy, environmental and retail marketplaces.  Rehrig Pacific's Environmental Group has been servicing the solid waste and recycling industry for over twenty years, providing rollout carts and recycling bins to waste haulers and municipal customers.   Today, the group has evolved to offer creative and innovative service solutions for containerized refuse and recycling programs throughout North America.

COCA-COLA ENTERPRISES
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) is the world's largest marketer, producer, and distributor of bottle and can liquid nonalcoholic refreshment. CCE sells approximately 80 percent of The Coca-Cola Company's bottle and can volume in North America and is the sole licensed bottle for products of The Coca-Cola Company in Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, and the Netherlands. For more information, please visit www.cokecce.com.

RECYCLEBANK
RecycleBank is a rewards program that motivates people to recycle. Using the RecycleBank proprietary three-step process Recycle, Record, Reward™, we quickly and easily measure the amount of material each home recycles and then convert that activity into RecycleBank Points that can be used at hundreds of local and national rewards partners. RecycleBank is simple to implement, market-driven, and proven to work; saving municipalities’ money and rewarding citizens for their environmental stewardship. Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield and Byers, RRE Ventures, The Westly Group and Sigma Partners are institutional shareholders. Ron Gonen, the co-founder and CEO, is the largest individual shareholder. RecycleBank is headquartered in New York City. RecycleBank was recently honored as a 2009 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and has been named as a 2009 Champion of the Earth by the United Nations. Visit www.RecycleBank.com for more information. Friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.