Posted on

RecycleBank Launches in Additional U.S. Locations

RecycleBank, a Philadelphia-based company that provides financial benefits for households to recycle, today announced it is expanding its service into the following locations:

  • Montgomery, Ohio
  • Sioux Falls, South Dakota
  • Eden Prairie and Maple Grove, Minnesota
  • Carrollton and Plano, Texas
  • North Miami, Florida
  • Wichita, Kansas
  • Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Knoxville, Tennessee

Green VC first covered RecycleBank earlier this year, when the company raised a $30 million round of funding.

"This is an incredibly exciting time in our company's history," said CEO and co-founder of RecycleBank, Ron Gonen. "The value we are creating in the municipalities we service is fueling tremendous demand for our program."

According to the company, RecycleBank households have saved over 559,475 trees, over 37 million gallons of oil, over 200 million gallons of water; and successfully diverted more than 59,946 tons of waste from landfills.  The video below provides a brief overview of RecycleBank:

RecycleBank also announced that in honor of America Recycles Day (November 15th), it will launch The Cycle, an animated interactive look at the process of single stream recycling and materials reprocessing.

For more information:

Posted on

RecycleBank Spotlighted by Newsweek

RecycleBank, a Philadelphia-based company that provides financial benefits for households to recycle, is spotlighted in the October 6 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, September 29).  The article (which is available online) provides background on RecycleBank and describes some of its future goals and plans.  Green VC previously covered RecycleBank in March.

The video below provides a brief overview of RecycleBank:

For more information:

Posted on

RecycleBank Closes $30 Million in Series B Funding

RecycleBank. a Philadelphia-based company that provides financial benefits for households to recycle, has closed a $30 million round of series B venture capital financing, according to VentureWire (via Private Equity HUB).  This round was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with series A investors RRE Ventures and Sigma Partners also participating.  RecycleBank has also previously received seed funding from Columbia University’s Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship and a $2 million investment from The Coca-Cola Company.

As described by RecycleBank, its core service framework is as follows:

  • Households receive a cart embedded with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip and all recyclables are placed into the cart for curbside pickup.
  • Recycling trucks retrofitted with RecycleBank technology read the RFID chip and record the amount the household recycles.
  • The weight and participation is then translated into RecycleBank Reward Points which households can view and redeem at www.recyclebank.com.
  • These Points can be used with more than 400 national RecycleBank Reward Partners such as Coca-Cola, IKEA, Starbucks Coffee and Kraft Foods, as well as local reward partners such as restaurants and grocery stores.

RecycleBank was founded in 2004 and currently provides service in more than 35 municipalities in the states of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.  The company states that more than 36 million tons of recyclables have been diverted from landfills through use of its services.

RecycleBank is planning to expand nationally in 2008 and in February announced the addition of Doug Lebda (President and COO of IAC; Founder of LendingTree) to its Board of Directors in furtherance of these plans.

The video below provides a brief overview of RecycleBank:

For more information: