The Berger Project

Living in Germany for 3.5 months now has made me realize a few things. Focusing on the greener part of me, is how to make recycling work. It is a very simple solution that has yet to take on in the US. Pay people to recycle.

In Germany (and maybe this exists in the rest of Europe), you are able to bring your bottles (water bottles, beer bottles, and other plastic and glass bottles) to the grocery to get some money back. This is such an easy thing to do and is great pocket change. With the price of water being so low in the first place, you almost make back 1/2 of what you spend for the water in the first place.

I know that in certain states in the US this exists, but it really should become more prevalent. One solution that I have come across is to eliminate the consumer effort needed. RecycleBank provides you with a bin and a barcode to put on your recycling bin. Then when collected, the collectors scan the code and reward you based on the size of your bin and therefore the amount of material that is in it. This weight is converted to points and then to dollars.

In the long run it may slightly drive up the price of goods, but isn’t that a small price to pay to give people an incentive to recycle and to save our world?