Kraft Becomes Official Sponsor Of RFID Recycling Scheme

Looking for a way to support the overall use of packaging, Kraft Foods has made a step to encourage sustainability by sponsoring Philly based RecycleBank. RecycleBank provides a system for municipalities that enhances their existing recycling programs. The municipalities pay for the service, then make their own decision about whether to bill residents for using it.

Each participant in the scheme is provided with a plastic RecycleBank bin with an embedded active 134.2 kHz RFID tag in its side. The consumer fills the bin with newspapers, cans, glass bottles, plastic containers and other recyclable materials, then places it at the curb, where a recycling truck uses a mechanical arm to lift the bin and drop its contents into the vehicle. The RFID tag transmits a unique ID number associated with data about the participant in RecycleBank’s back-end data system. That data can then be monitored by the local cities waste management teams and even the homeowners or office users. About their sponsorship, Kraft says:

“We are looking to reduce the overall use of packaging,” says Elisabeth Wenner, Kraft Foods’ director of sustainability. By encouraging recycling, she says, Kraft helps reduce the amount of its own and others’ product packaging in landfills. “RecycleBank offers an innovative way to make it easy and rewarding for consumers to recycle.”

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