Description

As part of their educational program, EcoLogic decided to face waste management issues by implementing a recycle bank.

The aim is to raise awareness on environmental issues, increase recycling among the students and their families, and to stimulate children to save and reuse.

Each student is given the opportunity to gain points by collecting garbage at home, cleaning the recyclable items and bringing them back to EcoLogic. Each recycled item is then weighed by the “leader” and the student gets to enter the points accumulated in their personal bankbook. The number of points may vary depending on the market prices that can change every month.

The students must then separate the recyclable items in their respective baskets, and EcoLogic will take care of selling the items to the local market. The income from these exchanges is saved to purchase items for the children that they can choose to “buy” themselves once they have accumulated enough points.

Not only does this initiative motivate the students to recycle, it also teaches them to save up their “money” in order to “buy” the gifts they desire. Brilliant!

Seen at

Name		Type of facility	Environment	Country	Swap?
	Rancho Margot	Activities, Community based tourism, Hotels & guest houses, Restaurants & Co	rural, montagne	Costa Rica	Yes