by Adrian Muller Trends come and go, and the media’s attention lasts only so long, which means that if, down the road, a new idea pushes sustainability out of the cultural spotlight, we’ll need to have established systemic mechanisms that guarantee continued popular commitment to sustainable lifestyles. One way to keep the transformation moving independent of the tides of trend is through incentives. Creative Economist, Steven Levitt, states that an incentive is simply a means of urging people to do more of a good thing and less of a bad thing, and that the world has not yet invented a situation that cannot be forced given the right incentive scheme. Philadelphia-based company RecycleBank has come up with an innovative recycling incentive that rewards households for the amount of recyclables they collect each week. Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips embedded in bins, garbage trucks scan and weight the bins, automatically recording each household’s contribution. This amount is translated into RecycleBank Dollars that can be spent at participating stores, such as Starbucks, Home Depot, HP, Coca Cola, etc. Some of these companies have also established community funds for local non-profit groups, community projects, charities, and environmental organizations. Customers are provided with… (more)
(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Stuff at 7:09 PM)