The Extra Push To Go Reusable

The basics of economic theory say that humans have unlimited wants and humans react to incentives. An incentive is basically a reason for someone to do something. For example, to get a child to work diligently, the teacher may put up stars on the board for good work. The star on the board is the child's incentive to work hard. Similarly, a negative incentive is when a teacher gives detention for poor conduct. The prospect of getting detention is a child's incentive to not misbehave.

Many prolific economists(chiefly the authors of Freakonomics - Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt) are big believers in incentives and their effects, and that is one of the main points in their books. They argue that many times, incentives would be more effective than laws at curbing or promoting certain behaviors.

Many governments have combined incentives and laws with good results. In Toronto, Canada, for example, waste has to be split up into food waste, recyclable waste, and other waste. If there is any mistake in sorting, there is a fine. Also, trash is only collected once a week - this creates the incentive to produce less trash, since you would have to keep the extra bags in your home or garage.

Similarly, to reduce the usage of plastic baggies and promote the usage of reusable sandwich bags, there needs to be an incentive. Schools, for example, can have clubs and societies where members using reusable sandwich bags would get a small percentage of extra credit to their final grade. Even local city councils and municipalities could offer some sort of benefit or bonus to people who recycle and reduce waste with diligence.

This is the theory behind ReusableBagStore.com's Referral program. It is a referral program that offers two incentives: one to the potential buyer going reusable to buy with a discount on the purchase, and second to the referrer to refer as many people as possible, since they get rewards according to how many people they send our way.

Some stores also offer programs where the customer receives $5 in store credit to that very store. ReusableBagStore.com decided to break the mold, be bold, and offer a gift card to any store that the customer likes!

Incentives will always remain powerful motivators for people to do things. Eco friendly and green companies can really take advantage of this to create greater awareness and excitement about their products and services.