Simple and Convenient!
The Recycling Refund is complementary to curbside recycling. It works so well because each bottle or can is worth 10 cents. Return it the next time you go to the grocery store, and you get ten cents back. Donate it to a local school or non-profit, and they raise money by recycling. Or, leave it in your curbside recycling, and the 10 cents helps support local city and county recycling programs. It’s your choice!
Save Money for Your Community
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) reports that Minnesotans on an average year threw away $285 million worth of recyclables, which equated to 1.2 tons of recyclable materials, and cost the state $200 million for landfilling, incineration, and litter clean up. Now, more than ever, cash-strapped cities need ways to save money.
Creates Jobs
Throw away your beverage container and you’re throwing away jobs. Recycling refunds in other states have created thousands of new distribution, retail, hauling, and redemption jobs. The recycling industry currently employs 27,000 Minnesotans. The Recycling Refund would create even more jobs in this industry.
Raises Money for Local Charities
Recycling Refund drives are proven fundraisers for schools, civic organizations and churches. In the fall of 2012 Waseca’s Hartley Elementary School collected and recycled over 3,700 pounds of cans. Their drive raised $2200 to go toward the student’s transportation on field trips. If Minnesota had Recycling Refund in place, the students would have been paid five times as much and they would have been able to fund more than just the transportation costs of their trips.
Common Sense Conservation
INCREASES recycling rates – Minnesota only recycles 35 percent of our beverage containers. Michigan and Iowa recycle over 85 percent. This means less waste headed to landfills.
Less Litter in Our Lakes – More recycling means less litter in our lakes and rivers. And it means less trash on roadsides throughout Minnesota.
Saving Energy – Recycling glass, plastic, and aluminum uses less energy than using raw materials. In fact, recycling aluminum cans uses 95 percent less energy.
