Saturday, Jul. 21, 2012

Fuquay-Varina works to spin trash to treasure

Town competes for $100,000 sustainability grant

Blue recycle bins the size of garbage containers line hundreds of driveways in town.

The 95-gallon bins are so popular the town is out of stock, and there is a three-week wait to get one.

Fuquay-Varina’s recycling efforts have garnered national attention. The town has been chosen to represent North Carolina in the SC Johnson Green Choices Recycling Challenge and could win a $100,000 sustainability grant.

The nationwide competition – which includes one community per state – requires residents to register for a free Recyclebank account to track their recycling activity. The town with the highest recycling participation rate after six months wins.

The winner will be announced in January.

Recyclebank is a rewards program in which members can track their activity via a smartphone application and check their points. Members earn points for living a sustainable lifestyle, like buying organic food, using less electricity, recycling and managing bills online.

They can use those points for discounts at food, beauty, home, clothing and accessory companies.

Available rewards include deals on SC Johnson products such as Ziploc bags and Windex and discounts from retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy’s.

Residents must report their recycling activity at least once a month in order to count toward the challenge. The town can check its standing via a leader board at www.recyclebank.com/greenchoices each month.

If Fuquay-Varina wins, town leaders aren’t sure yet what the money would be used for, said town spokeswoman Susan Weis.

The town would open it up to the public to hear ideas, said Public Works Director Arthur Mouberry.

Options could include adding a recycling-collection facility in town or implementing a household compost program – or anything else the public could come up with, he said.

The Recyclebank program is the latest promotion the town has used to encourage residents to divert trash from the landfill.

As part of the Feed the Bin program, the town handed out $50 cash prizes to 45 households that participated from February to May. The town randomly selected names from its database, and if the customers placed a recycle bin at the curb for pickup, they received the cash prize.

Fuquay-Varina’s recycling efforts appear to be paying off, literally.

Last month, the town received a check from Recycle America for $1,974 for its recycled materials, Mouberry said.

It may not sound like big money, but it also means the town isn’t paying to dump that trash into a landfill, he said. Fuquay-Varina saves $50 per ton diverted.

From July 2010 to June 2011, the town collected more than 1,013 tons of recycled material. From July 2011 to June 2012, residents recycled about 1,129 tons, an 11.5 percent increase, Mouberry said.