City proposes recycling rewards
A new city program may allow Yale off-campus students to receive coupons for donuts or vitamins starting next year.
Under the new initiative, on which the Board of Aldermen will vote Thursday, city officials and members of a partner organization, RecycleBank, would attach tracking devices to garbage trucks and recycling bins to gather information about community recycling habits. This information would help city officials to determine which residents are recycling better than others and provide these citizens with coupons to places such as CVS or Dunkin’ Donuts.
City officials...
#2
By Yale 08
2:38p.m. on November 3, 2009
Donuts for recycling? Has Homer Simpson moved into town or is this really the most effective way to encourage recycling habits?
this seems kinda cool. but i dont really feel comfortable signing up for anything "experimental." it seems setup like a get rich quick scheme:
"According to the city’s 10-year contract (RB just started in '04) ... there will be no immediate costs (lure?) ...and will pay... in total, $205,000 a year (2 million! maybe CT's taxpayers don't mind?) ...If (unprecedented!) the initiative is successful...the city will save roughly $650,000 even after paying RecycleBank."
“People who recycle are always going to recycle,” JP - this isnt necessarily true. at home, i recycle because it's easy (and my little brother drags it to the curb). but i really dont do it here because its awkward to carry that big blue bin, and my box of paper, and my bag of actual trash down 5 flights of stairs, esp. when i have to do laundry too. (sorry...)
maybe during a war isnt the best time for this relatively trivial experiment (compared with what's going on in the middle east)? i bet if STEP thought about it (they seem to have good ideas and hearts for the earth) Yale (off campus too) could start to solve the problem for free with clever sidewalk chalk (not flyers) around town or something. maybe reorganize yale's collection method? not to sound radical, but why not ignore this for now to focus more on homelessness and education? (the homeless in cali cant really freeze to death, but ours can! ...we can't really compare ourselves to a state so far away).