Politics & Government

Huntington Woods Draws Recyclebank Prize Winners

Ten residents received prizes including water bill discounts and gift cards Tuesday night; more incentives will be offered to encourage sign-ups for the national recycling rewards program and $100,000 SC Johnson Green Choices Recycling Challenge.

Ten residents who registered by July 13 for won prizes Tuesday night during a drawing at .

The winners, who were announced during a City Commission meeting, received water bill discounts and gift cards from and  in Berkley and Holiday Market in Royal Oak.

The winners included:

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  • First prize, $200 water bill discount: Amit Bhagwan
  • Second prize, $100 water bill discount: Denise Ferman
  • Third prize, $50 water bill discount: Chelsea Richardson
  • Fourth through tenth prizes, gift cards: Jackie Lupton, Tricia Stewart, Pam Bogdan, Shelly Gershune, Mary Daley, Karen Kubicki and Nancy Triest

"To all the winners, congratulations," said manager Claire Galed, who added more incentive programs will be offered in the future. "Hopefully we're all on the way to being winners."

The drawing was designed to encourage residents to sign up for the national recycling challenge. As part of the competition, Huntington Woods residents have been asked to register with New York-based recycling incentives program Recyclebank and record their recycling habits for 2 years beginning July 2.

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Whichever community among the 50 competitors has the highest percentage of reported recycling participation during the next six months will win a $100,000 grant for sustainability projects from Wisconsin-based household products manufacturer SC Johnson, which has partnered with Recyclebank for the SC Johnson Green Choices Recycling Challenge.

A leaderboard will be available on the Recyclebank website beginning in August so residents can track the city's standing in the competition.

Recyclebank lets users earn points that they can donate to support environmental education in schools or use to receive products, discounts and coupons at local and national retailers. Galed said residents already have reported redeeming points for reward coupons to the Hollywood Market grocery chain.

Challenge participants will earn 10 points for self-reporting and additional points based on the community's weekly tonnage reported to Recyclebank by the Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority.

SOCRRA general manager Jeff McKeen said Huntington Woods, which is participating in the challenge at no cost, will serve as a test community to determine whether the program should be introduced in the authority's 11 other member cities.

"There is a significant cost for Recyclebank," McKeen said. "So, we want to make sure the benefits outweigh the cost."

He said Recyclebank membership usually costs "in the neighborhood of 75 cents per household, per month," depending on how many residents are involved and how long a comittment is made.

"As much as I would love to win the $100,000, to me, the data we would get at the end of the 2 years is just as important," Galed said. "The impact of that data will be felt throughout all the SOCRRA communities. It could have an enormous impact."


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