By Lauren Rutter

Okay, I’ll say it: the 10c refund isn’t enough to get me outta bed in the morning. It’s not enough to get me to pull the sticky bottles and cans out of my recycling bin and lug them to a collection point 10 or 15 minutes away. I simply don’t have enough containers to make it worthwhile.  – Don’t get me wrong, I want to make sure everything that can be recycled IS recycled, but Australia’s council-run kerbside services are pretty reliable, in all honesty.

And if I did make the trip to an automated depot and poured my 39 containers onto the counting machine to be speedily swirled around and shot along the conveyor belt covered in laser beams, like some sort of Space Mountain ride for drink bottles; I’d walk away with $3.90. 80c of which would be lost down the side of my car seat before even starting the engine, $2.20 would be spent on a Golden Gaytime at the Mavis Street servo, and the remaining 90c would probably end up in the car’s centre console to be put towards overpriced parking later that day. – All in all, it’s a big effort for a relatively small return.

What we need is a place to stash our 10c refunds. A way to let one week’s $3.90 and next week’s $5.10, and the following weeks’ $2.30, $9.90 and $4 accumulate in the background until BAM! that’s $25 saved in just a couple of weeks. – But even more than that, after so much effort saving those refunds, that $25 can’t just be transferred onto a debit card to be spent without recognition and appreciation. That $25 is like a trophy, awarded for “personal effort and ongoing commitment to the environment”.  That trophy can’t just be tossed on the bookcase alongside measly participation awards – no – it should be photographed, printed onto a t-shirt and worn on every outing for the next 3-4 weeks.

Okay, so maybe that’s a little extreme, but your hard work should be acknowledged and rewarded. You’ve earned it.

*Queue superhero music* *Pat self on back* *Insert clapping-hands emoji*

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Crunch is Envirobank’s rewards program and digital wallet. It’s free to join – and super easy: it only requires your name, email and postcode. Once a member, every container recycled at an Envirobank-operated collection point in NSW, and NT, can be refunded directly into your online account where you can watch it accumulate until you’re ready to treat yourself.

Inside your Crunch account you can track your recycling progress, with stats about the total number of containers you’ve returned, as well as the breakdown of glass, aluminium, plastic and liquid paperboard. There’s also a super-clever little calculator that tracks how much water, carbon dioxide, landfill space and energy you’ve personally saved (just in case you didn’t already know how awesome you are).

Then there’s the Crunch store. Here you can choose what to spend your recycling credits on. There are gift cards available with heaps of major retailers like THE ICONIC, Kmart, Hoyts, Dominos, JB Hi-Fi, GoodFood Guide, iTunes and many more. You can also donate to one of our incredible featured charities like Surf Life Saving NSW or Literacy for Life Foundation; or you can simply withdraw your saved credits for their refund value via Paypal.

By joining Crunch, it’s easy to turn small refunds into big rewards.

(We’re still looking for a solution to the overpriced parking though.)

Join Crunch free today.

By Lauren Rutter