GreenMoney rewards residents for recycling

The City of Melbourne has joined recycling rewards program GreenMoney to launch a 12-month trial that lets residents earn points to claim discounts and special offers simply by recycling.

The trial, the first of its kind in Victoria, will be available to 15,000 households in Southbank and Docklands, particularly in the city’s high-rise apartments.

Councillor Arron Wood, chair of the environment portfolio, said the trial was a creative way to educate and encourage people to recycle more.

“The City of Melbourne is recognised as a global leader in sustainability and one of the reasons for this is our willingness to try innovative new solutions,” Cr Wood said.

“One of the biggest challenges we face as a capital city council is the amount of landfill we produce, so we are always looking at new ways to reduce it and improve recycling.

“GreenMoney will build on the success of our High Rise Recycling Program, which helped residents in more than 100 high rise buildings across the municipality divert tonnes of recyclable waste from landfill.”

Residents can sign up to GreenMoney from this week. Participants continue to put their recycling (paper, plastics, metals) in their household or building recycle bins and start earning points at a rate of 50 points per kilogram of recycling collected.

Current data shows each household in Southbank and Docklands generates about two kilograms of recycling each week.

Reward points are distributed to each household based on the weight of recyclables collected from their building or nominated area. The more they recycle, the more points they earn.

Points can be redeemed at participating retailers, restaurants, cinemas and local attractions, including Hoyts Cinema, Melbourne Theatre Company, European Bier Café, Eureka Skydeck, Rebel Sport, Nandos, Starbucks, Mad Mex, Subway, Melbourne SeaLife Aquarium.

“We often say that prosperity and sustainability are closely linked, and this program is a wonderful example of that at a local level,” Cr Wood said.

“As well as promoting environmental responsibility, GreenMoney will support participating Southbank and Docklands businesses by encouraging residents to spend their points locally.”

GreenMoney Communications Director Suzanna Kukulovski said: “We’re excited about expanding GreenMoney to Victorian households during National Recycling Week.

“People are currently looking for creative new ways to become more ‘green’ in their everyday lives. At GreenMoney we believe recycling and living more sustainably is something households can do that is simple and fun.”

“The Randwick, Sydney program has successfully delivered a 10.4 per cent increase in recycling and we look forward to demonstrating that City of Melbourne residents can achieve the same positive results.”

See greenmoney.com.au for more information or to register.

How GreenMoney works
• Residents sign up online to activate their GreenMoney household account to start earning year round cost of living savings.
• Docklands and Southbank households earn reward points each fortnight for recycling.
• All households need to do is continue to put their household recyclable items (plastics, paper, metals) in their household or complex recycling bins – it’s that simple.
• Reward points are equally distributed to each household based on the average weight of recyclables collected from your zone/community. So the more your community or building recycles, the more you earn.
• As a guide, 100 points equates to approximately $10 in savings.
• Households taking part in the trial will have the potential to earn up to 150-200 points a fortnight.

For more information, visit: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ForResidents/WasteRecyclingandNoise/Pages/GreenMoneyRecyclingRewards.aspx