Fort Worth Rewards Residents for Recycling More

(3BL Media) April 6, 2012 - Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, joined by representatives from Waste Management, Inc. and Recyclebank^®, today announced a new recycling rewards program for the residents of Fort Worth. Recyclebank rewards people for recycling and taking everyday green actions with discounts and deals from local and national businesses. Residents can now register to earn Recyclebank points and spend those points on rewards from local and national businesses.

“The City of Fort Worth is committed to being greener and by launching Recyclebank’s rewards-for-recycling program, we’re taking our environmental efforts to a whole new level,” said Mayor Price. “By rewarding residents who recycle, we’ll be helping the environment and provide families with valuable savings. We look forward to working together as a community to live more eco-consciously and take another step to reaching our goal of being a greener city. ”

The program is akin to a frequent flyer program except that residents earn points for being green instead. They can then use those points to shop with Recyclebank’s hundreds of reward partners, such as Macy’s, Pantene and Ziploc^®, in more than 10 categories, including food and beverage, health, beauty, home, clothing, accessories and gifts.

Nothing changes for collections with the current recycling program – what can be recycled, the cart that’s used or when it’s picked-up.

Currently, Fort Worth residents are diverting approximately 23 percent of materials from the landfill by using the blue recycling carts and weekly yard waste collections. The goal is 40 percent.

Recently the Solid Waste Services Division completed an audit of a single load of garbage that was headed to the landfill to collect data on what could have been recycled.

The largest amount of material by weight in the garbage truck load was recycling program materials (i.e. paper, glass, mixed plastic containers and aluminum/steel containers).  These materials comprised 29 percent of the total load.

“Our audit indicated that nearly 30 percent of the debris taken to the landfill is material that is currently accepted in our blue cart recycling program,” said Brandon Scott Bennett, Code Compliance Director for the City of Fort Worth. “Simply stated, we’re tossing far too much recyclable materials into the brown garbage carts that end up being buried in the landfill forever. We’re asking all residents to recycle more and with the Recyclebank program, increased efforts by residents will be rewarded.”

All residents who participate in the curbside recycling program recently received a letter from Mayor Price encouraging them to join the free program. Sign-up is easy; visit www.Recyclebank.com/fortworth to sign up for a free account or call 888-727-2978.

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