RecycleBank and officials in Houston and Hartford, Conn., announced expansions of the New York-based company's single-stream recycling rewards program in those cities.

RecycleBank rewards households with points based on the amount they recycle. The points are redeemable at retailers, restaurants and grocery stores.

Houston introduced single-stream recycling in March, distributing 96-gallon carts to roughly 10,000 residences. According to Houston Solid Waste Management Director Harry Hayes, the recycling rate for participating households in the first six months of the program was higher than the city's overall recycling rate.

“The city of Houston is proud to announce its partnership with RecycleBank and the expansion of our green cart, single-stream recycling program to 22,000 households,” Hayes said in a press release.

Hartford, meanwhile, launched a pilot program with RecycleBank in May of 2008 that serviced 4,500 homes. The expansion will bring the service to 25,000 homes in and around the city. In October, single-family households and multi-family buildings with up to six units received free 64-gallon blue recycling carts to use in the program.

Alcoa and Texas Instruments contributed funding to the Houston RecycleBank expansion. The Hartford rollout was subsidized using monies from the stimulus package signed earlier this year by President Barack Obama.

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