No, any standard garbage bag is accepted, but please use one that is fully or somewhat transparent.

All deposits must be validated by an admin before Eco Rewards are added to your account which may take up to 2 days. If the status of your deposit does not say “Under validation” but your Eco Rewards have not been updated, please either wait a few hours or log out and log back in to see your updated Eco Reward balance.

Your Eco Reward balance may take a few hours to update, or logging out and logging back in will display your updated balance faster.

10 is the maximum number of bags or bottles per submission, but you can split your deposit into multiple submissions if you’re depositing more than 10 bags or bottles at once.

America’s plastic recycling rates are estimated to be as low as 5% as of 2021. newBin is offering an alternative, free service that doesn’t let your recycling efforts go to waste, literally. newBin is accepting all plastic types and will treat them with the care necessary to keep them from being landfilled, incinerated, or leaked into the environment, while rewarding users for participating!

This varies, so check with your local waste company. Erie PA, like many cities, only recycles #1 and #2 plastic items.

In 2018, the EPA calculated that our total plastic recycling rate was less than 9% while the Department of Energy reports they it is as low as 5%.

No! While the dismal US plastic recycling rates might cause you to lose all faith in the practice itself, we can look to the EU for inspiration as their current plastic recycling rate is over 40%. Recycling alone will not fix our plastic problem, but taking a page from what other advanced societies do, in combination with the other Rs, Reduce and Reuse, is our best hope.

The two major barriers in the way of a circular economy for plastics are the lack of investment in collection and sorting infrastructure, and reliance on households to follow strict and confusing rules without any incentive offered. newBin’s job is to take the confusion and limitation out of the collection process and reward households for participating!

Recycling plastic is a necessary factor in the fight against the harmful buildup of plastic waste on our planet. When plastic is not recycled, it ends up littered, polluting our waterways, incinerated, or filling up landfill space taking hundreds to thousands of years to decompose. It also means that oil and gas companies drill for more oil to make new plastic, when old plastic can be reused.

Spread the word! Pressure your elected officials to demand 100% of your plastic be collected for recycling, invest in recycling infrastructure and support recycled content mandates for plastic packaging. Also participate in neighborhood cleanups, and recycle with newBin!