This week RecycleBank was recognized by the United Nations Environment Program as a 2009 Champion of the Earth for its development of economic models that provide incentives for people to take positive green action.

 

This is recognition is given by the United Nations each year to seven individuals or companies from around the world for their environmental stewardship.

RecycleBank provides dollar incentives to households and businesses to recycle. The more they recycle, the more dollar awards they receive.

 

In Philadelphia, the RecycleBank program succeeded in tripling the amount of recyclables collected.

The only other Pennsylvania environmental program to receive United Nations recognition was the PA Senior Environment Corps in 1999.

 

For more information visit the Champion of the Earth webpage for a profile of the RecycleBank Program and a video of the awards program.

 

Below is the speech given my company founder Ron Gonen accepting the award on behalf of RecycleBank--

 

I would like to thank the United Nations Environment Program for this award.

 

It was only a few years ago that I used all my savings to launch an idea into a Company. It was only a few years ago that I was walking up and down streets delivering our recycling carts. It was only a few years ago that an amazing group of people left their secure jobs to join me and form a team that is today enabling millions of people to view environmental stewardship as a financially rewarding opportunity. I accept this honor on behalf of my team at RecycleBank as a testament to hard work, to team work and to the leaders in government and business that have partnered with us and the people that use our service every day. They have helped me transform a vision into a reality, a reality into a movement, and a movement into a new economic model.

 

Today, RecycleBank serves over one million people in 20 states across the United States and that number continues to increase every week. We will launch our service in Europe this summer. To date, the material recycled by the households we service has enabled RecycleBank to save cities tens of millions of dollars annually in landfill disposal fees, save over 1.5 million trees, and save millions of gallons of oil.

 

I would like to speak with you tonight about the new economic model that RecycleBank is building. We call it the Gconomy, with a capital ‘G’ for green. The Gconomy is correcting a flaw in the development of modern economies. The 19th century triggered the emergence of modern economies with the launch of the Industrial Revolution. Industries and factories were able to produce and provide people access to products on a massive scale never before imagined in human history. The 20th century triggered the emergence of the Energy Economy whereby massive amounts of energy were generated, mostly from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, to expand Industry in order to meet the growing demand for an ever increasing variety of products and services.

 

Towards the end of the 20th century, we discovered that the current processes and costs of producing and transporting these products and services was bankrupting the environment that sustains us.

At RecycleBank, we are defining and building the 21st Century Gconomy. It is a place where communities, companies and individuals are financially rewarded for positive green actions that create economic efficiencies. We started in 2005 by financially rewarding households for the amount that they recycle because recycling enabled us to connect with every home in every neighborhood. We are now expanding our service to financially reward people for additional green actions that include using solar and wind power, efficient use of water, riding public transportation, and buying products that are manufactured from recycled content.

 

We when leave this ceremony later tonight and walk outside, our guide will be the city lights of Paris. Before the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, who could have ever imagined a City of Lights? Many of us arrived here and will return home seated comfortably on airplanes that will travel at high speeds at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Before the Energy Economy of the 20th century, who could have ever imagined harnessing the energy required to travel at such amazing speeds. This is why I never dwell on the massive environmental problems we face. I prefer to focus on and be excited by the power of the collective intellect and will of the human race to overcome challenges and build stronger societies. The 21st century must be marked by the emergence of the Gconomy. A world where we maintain and improve on the comforts and security achieved during the past 200 years of the Industrial and Energy Economies by harnessing renewable energy sources and continually recycling energy and products.

 

I will close today with a message in honor of the United Nations Environment Program: I have been fortunate to travel to many places in the world and I have learned the following to be true in all parts of the world.

 

Give a child a flower and she will smile

Give an older person a tree, and he will rest in its shade

And if a child asks, he will tell tales and share memories before they fade

Give children a field, and they will play

Give people a park, and they will join in music and dance

And if we just cherish that, a union of people and nature will blossom.

 

Thank you for this honor.

For more information, visit the RecyceBank website.