Can you imagine that by recycling you would earn points and could take gifts? Well, it is not a utopia. The company Ecoembes has designed a recycling platform with the name RECYCLES and, although its priority is the recycling of containers, it also encourages its use thanks to a points program that the user can later exchange for raffles to get gifts.
Citizens are increasingly aware of climate change. For years, the different towns in Spain have separated all kinds of packaging and rubbish into different containers, depending on the type of waste that is thrown away. However, going a step further and highlighting mobile technology, Ecoembes has developed a recycling system for beverage cans and plastic bottles called RECICLOS offering rewards to the user.
RECYCLES, a new platform to recycle cans and plastic beverage bottles
Stick with these acronyms: SDR. What do they mean? These acronyms refer toReturn and Reward System'. And it is that the company Ecoembes has designed a platform with the aim of promoting recycling among the population. The company knows that in this way it is much easier to promote citizen participation. In addition, RECICLOS is a pioneer project in Spain, which is already implemented in more than 100 municipalities.
The company is clear about its goal: in addition to achieving greater recycling of this type of packaging, based on its circularity. That is to say: manage to give a longer life to them and take advantage of them for the manufacture of new containers or other products. In this way, Ecoembes manages to support and help achieve the objectives set by the European Union in terms of recycling.
Likewise, RECICLOS integrates two sectors: recycling and mobile technology. And it is that the user has available a mobile application -both in Android as if to iPhone– completely free of charge.
How does the RECICLOS mobile app work?
RECICLOS applications, available in the most popular app stores in the sector, are totally free. Once you have downloaded them to your mobile device, you only you must scan the barcode of the can or plastic bottle that you deposit in the different containers distributed throughout the Spanish territory.
What is achieved with the scanning of the barcodes of the packages? For each barcode you scan, you will accumulate points that you can redeem in the future. In this way, RECICLOS rewards the user who is making responsible use of their containers that they deposit in the yellow container. For each can or plastic bottle that is recycled, the user gets 1 RECYCLES, which can later be exchanged in the draws that are held.
Likewise, once the cans or bottles that are going to be placed in the yellow container or in the RECYCLING machine have been scanned, the user must scan the QR codes that appear on them to be able to get the RECYCLES in points.
What prizes does the RECICLOS service offer users?
The balance obtained through each batch of recycling, can be redeemed in different ways. The first of these consists of the Donation of the balance to undertake social and environmental actions.
Some examples have been:
- Plant trees in areas near schools
- Take care of green areas that were formerly landfills
- Donations of medical supplies to combat COVID-19
- Contribute to a food bank for the most disadvantaged.
Likewise, the other alternative is to save the accumulated balance during a recycling period and thus be able to enter raffles of interesting products including:
- Bikes
- electric scooters
- Backpacks
- Local food products
How to know if RECYCLES already works in your area
Ecoembes has been expanding its RECICLOS project in recent months, being present in all the Autonomous Communities. However, each of them has many municipalities and it is possible that they have not reached all of them - they will expand over the months.
To get you out of doubt, Ecoembes has designed a web page of the project, where in addition to explaining what it consists of -and having the download links of the different applications-, also You have a RECYCLE search engine that will let you know if you have this initiative in your area. You only have to enter the name of the town in which you live and you will know if you can start recycling with RECICLOS.
