If you remember I had just mentioned that Houston’s recycling program was not a big success story and then I hear about the new initiative to get Houstonians to recycle more on the local news. You can see the video here

The idea behind the pilot program is simple, local residents earn points based on the amount of waste they recycle and can exchange the points for gift cards. A chip on the recycle bin is supposed to track how much a household recycles.What a cool program! I am sure it will get people interested in recycling more and for those like me who recycle regularly it is such a big incentive.
I often complain about dumping newspapers, catalogs, and big fat phone books into the recycle bin for nothing unlike in India where these products are sold to paperwallahs. In all probability, these sold papers ended up as wrappers for groceries at the local small-time grocer or wrappers for edible goods at the local roadside vendor but it is being reused if not recycled. Something to help save those trees.
I hope Houston’s new initiative to reward people who recycle works and they expand the program to include our household and meanwhile remember Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!