Cash for Trash: Paid to Recycle Rolls Out in Southbridge, Massachusetts

SOUTHBRIDGE, MA - Southbridge is the first local Massachusetts community that will experience the new rewards for recycling program, through Recycle Bank, according to Casella Management. The new program is scheduled to start on October 1, 2007. The recycle bins were delivered this week.

Changes to the Recycling Program

With the new system residents of Southbridge, MA. will see the following changes:

1. Residents who recycle will see real, monetary benefits for their efforts.
2. Recycling will be bi-weekly instead of weekly.
3. Residents no longer have to sort their paper and cardboard from their glass and plastic. The new recycling program is a no-sort system. All recyclables can be mixed together.
4. New recycling bins will be delivered.
5. The recycling bins are huge. They hold 96 gallons to be exact.

How Does Recycle Bank Work?

The recycled materials collected from a resident's bin is scanned and weighed. Each household gets credit for their recycling. A household can earn up $35 a month, with a maximum yearly benefit maximum of $420 in discount coupons.

Residents will receive a credit to participating stores based on the amount of recycling they do. Each recycling bin has an identification tag that is registered to a household. On recycling day, the scale on the recycling truck weighs the amount of recycled material. That amount directly translates into "RecycleBank Dollars."

Residents can then check their online Recycle Bank account at www.recyclebank.com or by calling 888.rb.pays.u. Discount coupons are then generated, and according to Casella Waste Services, can be used at local grocery stores, hardware stores and restaurants.

Those RecycleBank Dollars can then be used to purchase items from more than 250 participating national and local retailers. Most of the retailers listed were online businesses. Shaw's Supermarket, Dunkin' Donuts, and Rite Aid are the most practical retailer on the list.

Also on the list: Borders, Stonyfield Farm, Staples, and The Body Shop.

Non-Sort System Makes It Easier to Recycle