Within the United Kingdom, people pay for rubbish, recycled packaging and garden waste to be collected by their local council as part of their local tax services.  They are very lucky within the UK, as this is not a service that other countries have on offer as part of their tax payment benefits. Within the United States of America and Canada there is an organisation that is helping with the “slack” in the national recycling scheme, that is designed not only to recycle but help build communities.

Ecycler.com is an organisation that offers a service to many U.S households that do not have curb-side recycling.  It is a viable option for those people who have to pay for their curb-side collections or for those people who want to have their recycling picked up when and where they desire.

For the individual or the group collecting the recyclable, Ecycler provides an entrepreneurship opportunity for groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Church Groups, Social clubs and other community conscious organisations/individuals.  Once an Ecycler recycling program is accepted in the community, collectors can download personalized business cards and posters and use these in public places to advertise the service.  The collector account also includes a customizable Ecycler URL and anyone who has access to the internet can become an Ecycler collector.

Discarders also do their part for their environment by not only recycling on a regular basis, but also helping collectors in need of additional income. The collected recyclable materials are redeem for cash at a local recycling centre.  The same marketing materials are made available to any groups or individuals who wish to become collectors.

Timothy Laurent, founder of Ecycler.com told Just4theplanet

“Our main goal, is to enhance the social value of recycling.  We have a recycler who recently joined us who has a goal to make enough money to send a Cub Scout pack on a trip this Summer.”

Discarders can track their carbon credits on the site and can obtain an automated calculation of material recycled through ecycler.com. The site also provides an accountability tool allowing collectors and discarders to rate their experiences with one another. When asked about any plans to expand Timothy told us;

“We plan on expanding both geographically and in depth of service. We are going live this week with an ecycler site for Canada which is very exciting for us. Regarding depth of service, we will expand the materials collected based on need of a community–for example, we are running a pilot for the collection of composting for a city in Pennsylvania.”

What an inspiration, to know that taking care of our global communities and financial well being simultaneously, is gathering momentum in the USA.

If you would like to know more about this ethical green service offering within your area then please contact Tim Laurent on recycle@ecycler.com or telephone on: (+1) 847.574.9703.

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