Article:
Winner: Team Recycling
City Paper
by Bruce Schimmel
Dec 16, 2009
Yes, there's a new pay-to-play scheme in City Hall. But this one will actually clean things up and make everyone a little richer.
The city has just announced a new twist on incentive recycling, a new game that puts everyone in the neighborhood on the same team.
The idea behind incentive recycling is that you get shopping credits — redeemable at retailers — based on how many pounds you recycle. In test trials during the Street years, households averaged $240 a year. People really liked it.
From the city's point of view, the plan worked, but not well enough. Yes, it did bring in more recycling. But in the end, the city didn't save much. (And that was when there was a robust market for recyclables.) So the city turned down RecycleBank — a local firm that proposed the program — and Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson was pushed out to take the heat.
Things got so nasty that during the mayoral primary, recycling advocates bullied candidates into signing a promise to toss out Tolson.
Like everyone else, Nutter agreed. Though after his election, to the chagrin of many, Tolson was asked to stay on.
I thought it was a mistake at the time, but it turned out to be the right choice. Tolson has more than doubled recycling rates, to about 15 percent. And today, with a new incentive scheme ready to roll out in February, there are smiles all around.
"Gold stars to Clarena," says Maurice Sampson, a recycling guru who once led the charge to dislodge Tolson. When Tolson said to me in a recent interview, "We have a little vindication," I had to agree.
The city disliked the old incentive plan because weighing each household's recyclables took too long. And some people were stealing from their neighbors. (In Philly? Really?)
The city's new plan solves these problems, while building community. Instead of weighing individual bins, the city will weigh all the recyclables — together — that are collected in a neighborhood. So how much you'll make depends on how well everyone does.
Recycling in Philly just became a neighborhood team sport.
"Participating households," says Tolson, "will share equally in the reward points. For every pound of recycling that communities collect, they will get two points. And every pound of trash saved [from a landfill] will get one point.
"There is an incentive for everyone to get along. ... The more people, the more weight and everyone's boat floats higher."
And merchants honoring those points will draw more customers.
"It's a win, win, win," says Sampson. "And that means instead of stealing your neighbor's recycling, your concern is, 'Why is my neighbor's recycling bucket not out?'"
As Tolson's immediate boss, Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler, puts it: "It's a game changer."
And it's a great game at that: It cleans up neighborhoods, fattens wallets, saves the city money, helps out local merchants and encourages neighbors to cooperate. It's one game every household in Philly ought to play. If only everyone could.
Because, for now, team recycling will be limited to curbside pickup. People who live in high-rises and apartment houses can't join in — for reasons we'll explore next week.