Smart Trash Cans

Reported October 2006

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Buying recycled products is all the rage, but do you recycle? The average person uses 650 pounds of paper each year. Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour! Those bottles and other recyclables are filling up our landfills. Now a new garbage bin can actually save the environment and make you some money.

It's a dirty job, but in Jill Mascaro's home, her kids fight over who's going to be responsible for the trash! "The kids and I have a running marathon every month as to how much we can actually scrounge up in the house in recyclables," she says.

The Mascaros aren't only saving the environment, they're making money with the Smart Cart, a high-tech trash can created by engineers that collects all your recyclables.

Its secret? A chip embedded in the plastic.

"We've turned an injection-molded piece of plastic into a smart, traceable piece of plastic," JoAnne Perkins, general manager of Cascade Engineering in Grand Rapids, Michigan, tells Ivanhoe.

Sensors in the garbage truck read the chip. Forks outfitted with scales weigh what's inside. The Smart Cart automatically records the information in computers.

Fred Keller, CEO of Cascade Engineering, says, "The householder gets rewarded for the amount of recyclables that they have just put into the truck."

Each week you can go on-line, find out how much you've recycled and collect Recycle Bank Dollars. You can get coupons for anything from groceries, gas, clothes, Starbucks, travel agencies ... You name it, they got it!

Philadelphia went from one of the nation's worst recycling rates -- 6 percent to an incredible 90 percent with recycle bank!

"Not only has it taken the chore out, it's made it fun," Keller says. The creators of this concept at Cascade Engineering have a new word for this business -- "Econology” – because it's good for the environment and good for business.

It's a win all around! Cities save money on trash hauling. Waste management companies track recycling operations to reduce landfill disposal and optimize truck usage. Households get discounts, and businesses get foot traffic without paying for advertising. Cascade Engineering is responsible for making the bins, but if you want the smart cart to come to your area, call your city leaders.

Jill and her family earned $15 last month, $21 this month, and now they're ready to go shopping!

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Janet Hodur
Public Information
Resources for the Future
Washington, DC
(202) 328-5019
hodur@rff.org

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