Here is an incentive to recycle: Money
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.22.06
Picture by Sabina Louise Pierce for The New York Times
We are reading Freakonomics right now and are at an early chapter about incentives- what makes people do things? Guilt? Fear? Image among our peers? Patrck Fitzgerald and Ron Gonen think the best incentive is money, and has set up a company to pay you to to recycle your garbage. In their Philadelphia pilot project, a computer chip in recyclable garbage bin weighs the material which is then sold to the recyclers. Almost everybody wins: the municipality dumps less at landfill; the recycling plants get more material; the homeowner gets paid. Losers: paying people for their garbage certainly does not encourage anyone to reduce or re-use, which are as important as recycling. As Bill McDonough says, most recycling is actually downcycling to a lower grade, lower value product. ::Recyclebank via ::New York Times
An important point in that first chapter is that sometimes economic incentives have the opposite effect from what was desired. For instance, if people see the cost advantage in tossing their trash in the dumpster as opposed to sorting it and delivering it to a bin, then they might be incented to just dump it. Most people don't realize how much valuable recycleable material (aluminum, steel, plastics) they toss in a given year, and most of the people who are concerned about it don't care about the money anyway (or at least weren't expecting to get paid, cha ching).
Wow. We're only a decade behind Curitiba... America meet the rest of the world! Maybe the W ought to go visit Brazil for some green ideas....
An important point in that first chapter is that sometimes economic incentives have the opposite effect from what was desired. For instance, if people see the cost advantage in tossing their trash in the dumpster as opposed to sorting it and delivering it to a bin, then they might be incented to just dump it. Most people don't realize how much valuable recycleable material (aluminum, steel, plastics) they toss in a given year, and most of the people who are concerned about it don't care about the money anyway (or at least weren't expecting to get paid, cha ching).
I've been told by a Swiss citizen that Swiss garbage haulers charge customers by weight for garbage. I wonder if that reduces the amount of garbage produced.
In Minneapolis, the city pays each homeowner $7/month if the homeowner has a recycling cart. (I can't remember how the city validates that the cart is actually being used.) The $7 is just returning the profit the city makes on recycling the collected items.
In answer to Andrew, yes some people won't care about earning a small amout of money for recycling. But there will be a great business opportunity for street people to collect and gather valuable recyclables. Works best with deposits I think.
In answer to Andrew, yes some people won't care about earning a small amout of money for recycling. But there will be a great business opportunity for street people to collect and gather valuable recyclables. Probably works best with deposits though.
You want to know the secret to inspiring people to do things? Find a way to link the thing you want them to do with something they actually need. (For a brief rundown of basic human needs check out Maslow's Higherarchy of Needs.)
Money certainly does motivate people often, because money can buy lots of things people need (food, shelter, education, beauty, etc.), but as we all know, money isn't always a successful motivator - usually because people already have enough or the effort isn't worth the payoff. So lots of different rewards should be available, to satisfy different needs.
I am looking for money incentives to recycle my junk mail. If you know of such program, please contact me.
Thanks,
Falana Winston