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CLOSED: “Recycle for Rewards” with Kashi & Recyclebank (plus Giveaway!)

By 108 Comments

And the winner is…

Comment #35, Barbara M.
Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered!

kashi

Kashi Company, the premier natural food and lifestyle company, and Recyclebank, the company that rewards people with discounts and deals for taking everyday green actions, have developed a new way to reward people for learning about sustainability.

recycle bank logo

Recyclebank came to Delaware just after we moved into PA (of course), offering special recycling carts which are weighed each week when recycling is picked up. The weight of the recyclables in your cart is translated into Recyclebank points, which are redeemable for rewards like gift cards or discounts.

I KNOW. That’s super awesome.

Sadly, I live on the most inconvenient stretch of road imaginable for big ol’ recycling trucks, so even though my waste company does pick up recycling it never seems to pick up mine. So I suck it up and take my recycling to community bins, and get no pats on the back for all my conscientious hard work. Sniff, sniff.

What I didn’t realize is that even I can earn rewards! Recyclebank offers reward points for everyday green actions other than their (incredibly smart) physical recycling program.

For example:

From now until December 31, 2011, if you purchase any of these seven Kashi cereals:

  1. Kashi Autumn Wheat
  2. Cinnamon Harvest
  3. Island Vanilla (organic)
  4. Strawberry Fields (organic)
  5. Kashi Honey Sunshine
  6. Berry Blossoms
  7. Golden Goodness

you’ll find a “Recycle for Rewards” callout on the side panel of the box. Enter the code online as a pledge to recycle your cereal box (even if you have to drive it to the recycling center yourself like me), and you’ll earn 50 Recyclebank Points per box! These points are redeemable for rewards from local and national business partners, including coupons for Kashi products.

AND, if you watch the following video about the lifecycle of a cereal box— from original purchase at the grocery store to gaining a second life at the recycling facility (embedded below, RSS and email subscribers may have to click through, sorry)— and then answer a few questions, you’ll earn 25 bonus points.


Recycling paperboard is a big deal, and I’m not sure that most people are even aware that they should be recycling it! About 2.7 billion packages of cereal are purchased each year, and most of it can be recycled. Little steps add up to big changes, folks, and if everyone made this small change we’d be diverting an enormous quantity of paperboard from our dumps, and saving copious quantities of energy and natural resources to boot.

The video also mentions one of the points that I love to drum into people’s heads, so here it is again: it is so important to close the cycle and buy products made from recycled content (extra snaps for products with a high post-consumer content, meaning that it’s material that actually passed through a consumer’s hands into the recycling bin). Create the demand for recycled products and packaging and the companies will follow— and be sure to support early adopters like Kashi who have already taken the sustainable route.

 

GIVEAWAY!!

kashi-strawberry-fieldsI’ve only tried the Strawberry Fields and the Honey Sunshine thus far, but one lucky reader gets to try all seven cereals involved in “Recycle for Rewards” (listed above). These cereals are natural, minimally processed and free of highly refined sugars, artificial additives and preservatives.

  • Just tell me what you recycle, or one way you reduce paper waste, for your chance to win a sample pack of seven Kashi cereals.
  • For a second entry, you can follow me on Twitter and leave me an additional comment letting me know you did. (If you already follow, leave me a comment saying so!)

______________________________________

 

For more info on Kashi:

For more on Recyclebank:

This giveaway will close at midnight on Wednesday, July 20th. One winner will be selected at random the next morning from all entries and contacted via the email provided on the comment form. Winner has 48 hours to reply before a new winner is drawn. US mailing addresses only, please.

 

Comments

  1. We recycle just about everything that we can. We reduced paperwaste by using rags and I use cloth napkins. I also have reusable paper towels to throw in my purse for when I am out. I LOVE Whole Foods because I can recycle my #5 plastics there. Although I guess I increased my paper waste by switching to the new 7th Gen detergent that comes in paper packaging with a thin plastic bag inside. Every bit can be recycled and there is much less plastic waste. LOVE IT.

    Reply

  3. I recycle or compost pretty much everything. We have gotten our trash down to less then a small bag per week

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  5. We recycle everything including baby oatmeal cereal boxes, aluminum foil, toilet paper rolls and most recently…. doggie chewed balls from Olivia’s ball pit!

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  8. I recycle aluminum, plastic, paper, batteries, CFLs, electronics, regular light bulbs. Pretty much anything I think I can recycle. And, I donate as much as I can, too.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  12. Nothing exotic. I recycle paper and cardboard at home and at work using the curbside weekly service.

    ky2here at msn dot com

    Reply

  16. I recycle, paper, plastics 1-5 and try to buy products with as little non-recyclable packaging as possible!

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  19. One way we reduce paper waste is to not have our newspaper delivered to the house anymore. I read it, and my magazines, on-line. Thanks.

    Reply

  21. I actually cart all of my paper goods to a recycling bin available for public use at work. Then I purchase as much as I can in bulk. We tend to do bigger breakfasts and lunches–lots of cereals, fruits, and yogurt, but simple things like beans and rice for dinner.

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  23. We recycle about everything – cans, boxes, yogurt containers, paper. My fingers are crossed, as Kashi cereal is awesome!

    Reply

  24. I recycle just about everything possible here too! We use MAYBE 1 roll of paper towels every other year (real icky messes that I don’t want to use my washable cloth rags for). I have a worm composter and a yard waste compost tile. I wish we had a Recyclebank in our area 🙁

    Reply

  27. We recycle everything recyclable – paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, aluminum, etc. Hope I win! I love Kashi!

    Reply

  28. We recycle everything that is allowed in our area. We only wish they would recycle glass around here!

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  34. I recycle all cans, plastic, cardboard and newspapers.
    We have recycling bins and that makes it easier.
    Thank you.
    barbara dot montyj at gmail dot com

    Reply

  36. Actually, we live in a county that requires us to recycle or else we get fined! Cardboard…paper & cans is the norm to recycle here in Southern California!

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  39. we recycle glass, plastic, and metal at the house. my neighborhood doesn’t pick up cardboard or newspaper so I hold onto it and bring it the local university where there are recycling facilities for it 🙂

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  40. We try to recycle everything possible that we can.
    We try to reduce our paper waste by using cloth shopping bags, cloth lunch bags, real plates instead of paper and dish towels instead of paper towels just to name a few.

    jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com

    Reply

  42. I recycle everything I can from paper, to plastic and glass. I also give unwanted items away instead of throwing them in the trash.

    Reply

  46. I recycle all plastics. I also compost. To reduce paper, I use paper until both sides are used whether for printing or scratchpaper. Then it can be used for paper airplane races with kids (as long as it’s not confidential info. because kids love to read and learn, even from paper airplanes!).

    Reply

  47. We recycle everything we can especially cereal boxes. In our community we don’t have glass recycling so we save it any way and when we are going to a town 30 miles away that does have glass recycling we take it with us.

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  48. We recycle everything we can, newspaper, glass jars, junk mail, etc. I’ve even started harping on my neighbor when she goes to throw paper in the trash, “You can recycle that!” LOL.

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  49. i recycle to try and do my part for the environment. any time i can i reuse or recycle an item to make an impact. it also cuts down on trash we take out weekly. 🙂

    Reply

  50. We recycle cans, bottles, newspaper, cereal boxes, pizza boxes, cardboard….if it’s cardboard or paper I recycle it!

    Reply

  55. We recycle cans. We even go and pick up cans people have thrown in ditches.

    tdlsfm(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  56. We reduce waste with our awesome compost bin- shredded paper, veggie scraps and grass clippings make great fertilizer!

    Reply

  59. I recycle all paper and plastic products and I rarely throw useable items in the trash. If they are in good shape I donate them. I turn in all electricals (bulbs, batteries, etc at a monthly roundup in town.)

    Reply

  61. We reduce paper waste by using cloth diapers, cloth napkins, cloth breast pads, cloth menstrual pads, cloth rags.

    Reply

  65. We recycle our plastics, paper and glass products as well as safe aluminum cans and sell to our local metal recycler.
    lisalmg25 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  67. We recycle everything we can – paper, plastics, glass, aluminum. Every week we have three recycle bins filled at the curb. Thanks!

    Reply

  68. We live in Oregon, where recycling is easy and effortless because it’s commingled! If it’s recyclable, in it goes. The only thing we have to sort is the glass. Our recycle bin is larger than our trash bin. With family on the East coast who never recycle, I hope to see more communities offering this easier way.

    Reply

  69. we recycle cans and bottles around here. we drink a LOT of soda so we do a lot of recycling.

    ferriza2(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  71. We recycle whatever we can…newspaper, boxes from food, junk mail, cans, jars, glass…whatever our recycle people will take 🙂

    Reply

  72. We re-use and recycle plastic containers from bottled water and milk jugs using them as mini pails, just cut the tops off, we recycle cans and bottles and often plastic that comes from packaging or frozen dinner trays as we buy a lot of frozen foods

    emmaspeel(at)gmail.com

    Reply

  74. I recycle just about anything I can, I don’t even leave my cans somewhere that won’t recycle them, I bring them home lol! Seriously, some people in my neighborhood think I’m a ‘hippie’ but I just try to take care of the Earth, she deserves it! I also recycle glass, paper, plastic, anything 😀

    Reply

  78. we recycle aluminum cans,glass,plastic,ardboard and newspapers..one way i reduce paper towel use is to use old newspapers when i wash windows

    kathypease(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  86. I recycle paper, plastic, cans, cardboard, and glass. When I’m emptying the small trash cans into the large one to take out, I even take papers out of them to recycle.

    Reply

  87. I REUSE cereal boxes by making them into photo mailers! Photo mailers are expensive anyways, so it saves me money while reducing waste.

    I recycle the boxes I don’t use the traditional way, as well as plastic bottles and metal cans. I do use plastic shopping bags but return them to the store to be recycled.

    Reply

  90. We recycle everything we can including cardboard, cans, plastic and glass. Often we reuse paper though since we have taken to making paper lately out of it. Recycling is made very difficult in this small rural area I’ve moved to. There is no curbside recycling so few people do it since you have to drive in the snow most of the year to get to the recycling plant! But I have been trying to get recycling done at different places i frequent and often offer to take others recycling just so they will get it done!

    Reply

  97. We recycle everything that we can. Any leftover foods we use for the compost heap in the garden. Thanks for the chance! 🙂

    Reply

  100. I recycle everything….from paper, plastic, glass, ink cartridges, old cell phones, etc.. It is so easy to do these days, there is no reason everyone can not do the same.

    Thank you for the entry,

    Reply

  102. I recycle what the recycling trailer takes! I live in military housing and am most likely not allowed to have a compost bin or anything like that.

    Reply

  106. I just signed up for our cities new recycle program so I will be recycling everything I can in September.

    Reply

  107. We recycle the usual paper, plastic, glass, mental…. We also try to find new homes for objects we are no longer needing/enjoying.
    momznite_at_yahoo_daught_com

    Reply

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