Recyclebank Seeks Big Brands For Eco-commerce

by Karl Greenberg, Oct 20, 2011, 8:00 AM

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Recyclebank, an organization that rewards people for taking green actions by giving them discounts from local and national businesses, has launched Recyclebank Ecosystem, which involves other companies and brands who reward people who do eco-friendly activity and commerce. Most of the consumer brands involved are rewarding consumers for essentially using their products.

The organization says inaugural network partners include Barnes & Noble, Preserve, MillionTreesNYC, thredUP, Earth911, Rent the Runway and UncommonGoods.

Preserve makes eco-friendly household products sold through stores like Whole Foods and Target. Preserve will be rewarding consumers for purchasing their products.

"Recyclebank realizes that to make a measurable environmental impact, we need to motivate millions to act in ways that creates a more sustainable future," says Ali. C. Mirian, Recyclebank Ecosystem General Manager, in a statement. "We cannot do this alone, however, so the launch of the Recyclebank Ecosystem dramatically scales our reach by connecting Recyclebank with communities of other like-minded, eco-conscious brands…our goal is to create a network of relationships with consumers and brands that collectively generate greater impact than any individual or single organization could make on their own."

The organization, whose CEO is former head of 24/7 Real Media, rewards consumers by measuring the amount of material each member home recycles then issuing Recyclebank points based on that. Reward points can also be earned through the Visa Gconomy Card, GreenNurture, Kashless, electronics recycling, and at eBay's Green Team program.  Recyclebank also does “Learn and Earn” quizzes where Recyclebank users get points for correctly answering questions on environmental issues and promotional activity on social media. Hsu has said he looks to make the organization the first mass-market green brand. Featured partner brands also include Kashi, Ziploc, Aveeno, Unilever, Friskies, Dagoba and Coca-Cola.

Recyclebank said it is working with publishers, e-tailers, retailers, utilities and environmental and governmental organizations as well as technology companies. The network, citing comScore, says that with its current brand base it is already more than 3.6 million consumers each month.

Partners joining the coalition collaborate with Recyclebank to develop rewards for actions their customers and audiences can take that have a positive environmental impact. The organization says "green actions" could be sustainability-related educational content, eco-friendly purchasing decisions, eco-conscious transportation and signing up for paperless billing.

The way it works is that after completing one of these or other green actions through a partner, people earn points that can be redeemed for discounts and deals from local and national grocery stores, restaurants and retailers.

Some examples of how brands are using the program: Barnes & Noble is rewarding people for purchasing Nook eReaders; MillionTreesNYC, a citywide, public-private program, rewards people for adopting trees in New York City; thredUP, a site where parents trade kids' clothing and toys, rewards people for joining their community; UncommonGoods, an e-tailer of sustainable gifts, rewards people for buying eco-friendly products.

Other partners exploiting their membership in the network this fall include Macy's, Rent the Runway, Kids Konserve and ChooseUp, which will reward their users for selecting paperless bill pay, renting previously worn clothing, packing waste-free lunches in eco-friendly bags and curbing energy use with energy-saving products, respectively.

 

 

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