RecycleBill Crosses The Pond

Or, Fish And Chips On My Shoulder?

RecycleBill doesn't have a chip on his shoulder because International Blog Nothing Week was a flop. I mean, I fish for new ideas all the time, I'm used to loosing more than I win. Besides, it's not my fault it flopped like a flounder on a hot beach-- it's the fault of the 99.99999999999...% of the world's bloggers who didn't pitch in and do their parts.

I'm not bitter. Oh sure, I'm bitter at the crack addict who physically attacked me at the recycling center last week but being that he's on parole he'll soon be back in prison because I captured the whole thing on the security cameras that run 24/7 at the recycling center. But I'm not bitter because my idea to green the Earth was a flop-- I'm inspired.

With all that's happened I've decided to push even harder and expand the RecycleBills.com local recyclers search to include the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand so that local recyclers in those countries can buy and recycle even more post consumer recyclables. Why, even the folks at that other recycler search engine have yet to cross the oceans.

And while RecycleBill's Recycleblog will remain where it is, I plan to extend coverage into all those countries and more. Oh sure, I still want Americans to buy American but I want Australians to buy Australian and Kiwis to buy Kiwi because that's the green thing to do.

And please, don't forget to recycle.

Getting Children To Eat Their Veggies

Or, Spread It On Thick?

RecycleBill read somewhere that over 75% of Americans consume peanut butter. For my family, peanut butter has been a staple for as long as I can remember. Peanut butter tastes good, it's good for you and without a doubt if left to their own devices, many kids would eat nothing but peanut butter. But what if we could make peanut butter even healthier than it already is?

What if someone whipped up a peanut butter vegetable spread and marketed it as a healthy source of not only protein but of the many vitamins and minerals found in vegetables? What if it tasted just as good as peanut butter-- not exactly the same but just as good? With a couple of slices of whole grain bread and a layer of peanut butter vegetable spread a sandwich would become a healthy meal.

Anyway, that's my newest idea for a new green business and #64 on my list of green business start-up ideas. If you decide to give it a try then let me know and I'll tell the world about what you're doing. Same goes for the other ideas on my list.

The Green Providers Directory

Or, Anyone Seen My Paddle?

While RecycleBill usually concentrates on the US and Canada, let's not forget there are folks across the pond who are also quietly working to improve the environment and make the world greener. One such UK business is The Green Providers Directory, "a not-for-profit directory whose aim is to help you find green, organic, fair trade and ethical suppliers of everyday products and services."

If you're living in the UK and trying to go green I recommend you see what they have at The Green Products Directory.

How am I going to get across the pond without my paddle?

In all seriousness, should I add retail buyers of post consumer recyclables to the search engine at RecycleBills.com? Okay, you talked me into it. If your business is a retail buyer of post consumer recyclables (meaning you buy from the general public from a fixed location and accept walk-in business) then click on the link to add your US, Canadian or UK recycling center.

Finazzle Cleaning Products, A Return To Local

Or, Doing It Right

RecycleBill went to The Hardware Store, 3111 East Bessemer Avenue Greensboro NC US 27405 (Map) yesterday in search of some nuts and bolts. While there I killed a few minutes talking with my friend of over 40 years, Larry Higgins, who owns and operates The Hardware Store just about 1/2 mile from my home.

While I was there a couple came walking in and said they had traveled all the way from Mebane (almost 30 miles) in search of a product called Finazzle. Now to be honest, I've never heard of Finazzle before yesterday and I've yet to actually use their products but I was impressed that someone would be willing to travel 30 miles to buy a bottle of cleaner.

Larry told me how the folks at Finazzle had pulled their products from the shelves of the big box retailers and decided to sell them through local retailers instead, even going so far as to extend credit to local retailers who might otherwise not be able to afford to stock their products.

Then Larry showed us the bottles and they were only half filled. Larry explained that because 1/2 of the finished product is actually water, the folks at Finazzle decided to leave out the water, reduce the shipping costs (and the environmental impact of shipping water weight) and allow customers to finish filling the bottles from their taps.

The folks at Finazzle are making no green claims and I've no idea how green their products might be but I was impressed that customers travel to Larry's store from all over the state to buy Finazzle cleaning products. And a return to local is always a move in a green direction.

RecycleBank Is Broken

Originally posted Tue, April 14, 2009 at 20:30 now updated because Recyclebank executives openly deny my concerns to be true despite my having evidence to the contrary.

Or, Who Do They Think They're Fooling?

RecycleBank announced a partnership with MillerCoors Beer today. I wonder if the folks at MillerCoors realize the mistake they just made? And do they care?

A few months ago while working as the general manager of a local recycling center RecycleBill got a call from a nearby university inquiring about setting up a campus wide recycling program. Recognizing this as an urgent call to action, RecycleBill went straight to work.

While searching the Internet in hopes of finding equipment to make the job easier I came across a kiosk operated by a company called, RecycleBank. Thinking this just might be the super tool a green superhero might use to recycle a university campus I used my super powers, aka the telephone, to call the folks at RecycleBank and inquire about the possibility of buying some of their kiosks.

Now before I tell the rest of my story I'd like to say that I'd be willing to bet that the founders of RecycleBank began their venture with the best intentions before ever learning of RecycleBank's biggest flaw. That said, because RecycleBank continues to sell a flawed system to investors, advertisers and taxpayers, I feel I have to do my green duty and expose them.

I called RecycleBank and spoke with them as to the possibility that my company might buy one or more of their kiosks. The nice gentleman told me he would love to sell them to me but it seems their kiosks simply don't work. You see, with all their high tech engineering and planning the folks at RecycleBank left out one very important factor-- the human factor.

Most humans start out good enough but like the folks at RecycleBank, when push comes to shove some humans are prone to cheat, lie and steal. And with all their technology the RecycleBank system depends on a plain and simple scale to weigh the contents and determine the rewards the humans get for placing stuff in the kiosks. You see, a scale can't tell 2 pounds of aluminum cans from 2 pounds of dirty, worn out size 10 sneakers. Without a human to stand guard the kiosks can't tell the difference between 1 pound of plastic bottles and 1 pound of half-eaten cheeseburger and stale fries.

And the system RecycleBank is attempting to install on recycling trucks in cities across America works no better. Unless your city sends a human out to dump, check and refill every single recycling container ahead of the recycling truck the end result will be more trash mixed in with the recycling.

And more trash mixed in with the recycling means more recyclables get rejected and sent to landfills-- not less.

RecycleBill works in the type of recycling center that pays people for their recyclables and never a day goes by when we don't catch someone trying to pass off trash as genuine recyclables. Sadly, payment in the form of cash or coupons will encourage cheating for as long as the human factor remains in play and unless you want your city to spend millions of dollars on a flawed system I recommend you speak out against RecycleBank.

Then again, maybe I should have kept the secret to myself as I've got tons of old bricks I've been unable to sell.

Update: Top 10 Ways To Hack Recyclebank for fun and profit.

Update 2: Recyclebank caught cheating.

Update 3: From Consilience: The Journal of Sustainable Development:

"For this ongoing test run, RecycleBank bins are available in all freshman dorms. Students bring their recycling to a computerized kiosk, where their recycling is weighed and assigned a point value. Students then redeem their points online. I have been using the system for a few months, and it could not be any easier to operate. The whole process takes less than a minute, and the rewards website is well organized. On the operational level, RecycleBank is an unequivocal success.

This kiosk system is a first for RecycleBank, which is experimenting with the format for possible expansion into multi-unit dwellings like apartment buildings. This trial run also marks the first time RecycleBank has operated on a college campus. No data is available yet on this kiosk model’s effect on recycling, but according to Ms. Mesa, the preliminary response has been positive.

“We don’t have great data,” said Mesa. “But the people who are in it really seem to like it.”

The Columbia Spectator has already run an editorial urging an expansion of the program to upperclassmen dorms, and campus environmental groups have been eager to work with RecycleBank. Despite the enthusiasm, Mesa cautioned against expanding the program too quickly, advocating a more measured approach.

“I would rather see something well developed that makes sense rather than something that doesn’t work well,” she explained. Her prudence is warranted; an impulsive scaling up of an inefficient program would do more harm than good.

Though limited, RecycleBank already has a substantial number of participants. In an informal poll of a freshman hall, 30 to 40 percent of hall residents said they participated. Some were planning to join the soon, and others claimed to recycle without using RecycleBank.

A few students, however, admitted to abusing the program. One said he had taken free newspapers and recycled them en masse, reaping points by stealing papers. Another, who had reached the point limit for his monthly recycling, distributed his remaining recyclables to friends, who used them for points. For many, the aim is the incentive, not the positive externalities of recycling. As with any incentive-based program, the danger is that participants will completely disregard the larger purpose, instead obsessing with how they benefit personally."

My point exactly. And as of November 14, 2009, no one from Recyclebank has bothered to address these issues even though Recyclebank CEO, Ron Gonen and Recyclebank Regional Director, Mike Mazzaroni have both used the comment feature below to deny their system is flawed.