Reap the rewards for recycling and make some green

By Katie Machol Simon on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 11:51 am

Right now this service is available in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and certain in areas of the UK.

RecycleBank is now even offering points for recycling your electronics: cell phones, iPods, and laptops.

Not in an area that RecycleBank services? Here are some more ways to earn some green for your green efforts:

[image-1]-Gazelle and YouRenew: Sell your electronic devices- from cell phones, mp3 players, and calculators, to old DVD and Blu-Ray players, LCD monitors, and home audio devices. They'll even send you a box to pack it in and pay for the shipping!

-Cell for Cash and GreenPhone: This site will buy your old cell phone from you, taking an array of different makes and models.

-Cash4Cartridges, Advantage Cartridge, and eCycleGroup: These sites will pay you for your used ink cartridges from fax machines, copiers, and printers.

-We Buy Used Golf Balls: I'll give you two guesses as to what they want to buy from you.

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Seeing as this Sunday is America Recycles Day, I've been in the recycling mood and racking my brain for different ways to do so. Then I stumbled upon something wonderful: cash (or swag) for recycling! We could all probably use some extra dough these days, and just for the act of recycling you can make a profit.

RecycleBank is a website where you can register to earn points toward gift certificates for food and other goods just by taking out your recycling every week. After registering, you receive a chip to be placed on your recycling bin. That chip is then scanned when the recycling is picked up and your items are weighed. The information then gets transmitted back to RecycleBank and you receive 2.5 points for every pound of items you recycled. You can earn up to 450 points per week and 5,400 per month. Those points can then be used to get certificates for items from over 1,500 participating businesses, like CVS, Chick-fil-a, Kraft, Kashi, Foot Locker, and Kohl's. Points can even be redeemed for passes to museums and can be donated to organizations and charities like the Ocean Conservancy.