Communities and Companies Embrace RFID to Increase Recycling

Communities and companies in the United States are using RFID to speed up and ease the recycling process. One county in Maryland has RFID tagged recycling bins and installed readers on the trucks that pick up the waste.

The test program would allow the county to easily determine which residents are not recycling glass, metals and other household waste and send them a friendly reminder about the importance of doing so.

Another project operating in many states is called the RecycleBank. Instead of reminding consumers to recycle and explaining the benefits of doing so, this program focuses on rewarding consumers for actual recycling.

RFID tags are applied to trash cans that are weighed as they are lifted on to trash dump trucks. The unique identification number of the trash can is detected by the reader on board the truck, and the information is recorded together with the weight of the recycled goods.

The overall volume of recycled goods is calculated for all participants. Consumers are then rewarded for high rates of recycling by collecting points that can be redeemed for discounts or other benefits.

RecycleBank says it has already helped divert more than 36 million tons of recyclables from landfills.