My practice recently developed a self-service recycling kiosk for green startup RecycleBank. The kiosk takes the RecycleBank business model to the next level and allows customers to not only earn rewards, but help the environment around the clock without leaving the comfort of home.

While working as lead developer on the project we developed a custom Ruby on Rails application running on [IBM Anyplace kiosk hardware]. RecycleBank was very happy we were able to crank out a working prototype in a matter of weeks, thanks to the magic that is agile development. I also worked closely with the RecycleBank technical team to define an XML-RPC API (which the kiosks consume) that will allow RecycleBank to move to a true services orientated architecture and integrate future products into their recycling services.

The first production kiosks have been installed in select Columbia University dorms as part of their Go Green Columbia program. Columbia Television News recently had some coverage of the launch (story begins at the 25 second mark):

Expect to see more RecycleBank kiosks to begin popping up in apartment buildings throughout the northeast in the coming year.

UPDATE 2008-04-11:

Some additional coverage from Time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1730187,00.html