Waste Management Joins Forces with Recyclebank

Waste Management has made “a strategic investment” in the parent company of Recyclebank.

The investment in Recycle Rewards Inc. brings together Waste Management’s curbside collection infrastructure, which it says is the largest in the United States,  with Recyclebank’s extensive community recycling incentive program.

The specifics of Waste Management’s commitment to Recyclebank aren’t being made public, says spokeswoman Carrie Griffiths.

Waste Management expects to make available Recyclebank’s green rewards program to its nearly 20 million North American customers over the next several years. Also, Recyclebank will take over Waste Management's Greenopolis social recycling platform, making Recyclebank the leading online recycling rewards program in America, Waste Management said in a news release.

“This investment helps to enhance our existing public sector relationships and signals our commitment to growing our customer base as we see more and more towns and cities making recycling incentive programming a priority," said David Steiner, president and chief executive officer of Waste Management. "Our collaboration with Recyclebank gives us a competitive advantage, and, at the same time, incentivizes more recycling by motivating people to change how they consume and dispose.”

“Our agreement with Waste Management gives us the resources and reach we need to expand our business and motivate and mobilize more people to make a collective, positive impact on the environment," said Jonathan Hsu, chief executive officer of Recyclebank. “We look forward to working together to realize our vision of a world without waste."

Greenopolis rewards consumers for recycling on the go by combining incentives with advanced collection and tracking technology. Greenopolis has more than 1,000 Greenopolis recycling locations across North America. Recyclebank will incorporate Greenopolis’ web-based rewards catalog into Recyclebank's rewards program of more than 3,000 local and national businesses to enhance incentive offerings to its member base.

Recyclebank will also assume management of the Greenopolis social media, including Greenopolis.com, RecyclePix and Oceanopolis, the Facebook game that uses social gaming to reward recycling in real life and the virtual world.

Recyclebank's rewards-for-recycling program is currently in more than 300 communities in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Waste Management joins existing Recyclebank investors RRE Ventures, Sigma Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, The Westly Group, Generation Investment Management, Top Tier Capital Partners, Physic Ventures and Craton  Equity Partners.