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.