Bower: Recycle & get rewarded 4+

Always done the bulk of recycling at home and at work, so this has always show that what I’m doing is worth it. Very easy to use and full in certain products that haven’t been registered yet. Only thing I will say is that I wish there was an update feature on bin drop-off locations. Sometimes if a user has forgotten a certain category of trash that can be disposed of at their drop-off it stays that way. Really good app!

Thank you for your review, we are so happy to hear that you enjoy the app! You can actually report the bin drop-off locations so we can update them in the app. If you are at a station that is missing information, click on it in the app and "Report a problem"!

Before I updated the app I had a bunch of coins saved up to get the top voucher amount when it became available. However since updating it they’ve been completely wiped out and I’m back down to 0. This might be a bug or planned with the way the coins now work, but either way it’s very frustrating. Other than that the update is a bit mixed. ***Edit: after I wrote this there was an in app message about points and it mentioned an email and notification sent about a week before. I don’t have notifications turn on but eventually found the email in my spam folder, even though I’d previously had emails from Bower. It would probably work better if the in app message was included before to make sure people see it.***

The increased coin amounts for vouchers is disappointing, but being able to get multiple a month is nice. I’m not sure on these missions you need to finish to get coins now. The amount you get is alright but overall feels like you’ll get less than you used to when it was per item recycled. I’m assuming as well that if you complete a mission early there’s no way to get more coins until the next one is available, which could easily put you off using the app since there’d be no point.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. I’m truly sorry that you lost your saved Coins—it’s totally understandable to feel frustrated after spending time collecting them. We've had to make some major changes to create a more sustainable rewards system where we had to start from scratch, and I understand this feels different from how things were before.

In the new setup, each Coin has real value, and you can redeem them without the restrictions that limited the old system. As you mentioned, you can now claim multiple vouchers per month, which hopefully helps balance things out. With missions, you’ll earn Coins for completing different recycling goals throughout the month. We’ve designed missions to give regular opportunities for Coins, but we know it feels different from per-item rewards and hope to be able to increase those rewards as we grow with new partnerships. I understand your concern about having a pause between missions. The idea is to encourage consistency and new recycling habits, but I completely get how it can feel limiting in those gaps.

Your feedback is really valuable to us, and we’re constantly working to improve the app. I hope the new system grows on you over time, but please feel free to reach out with any other concerns. We’re here to help!

All the best,
Marija at Bower

The latest update has zapped the fun!!! I lost my points … I no longer see them increasing which was an incentive to continue with the app now with every scan it tells you you’ve earned ‘x’ points but your balance doesn’t change then you suddenly see a few points added when you acheive a challenge - which I add are lengthier to complete for regular household user!! THEN thin cardboard packaging from fruit/veg now randomly shows as needs to be recycled at a ‘recycling point’ yet a cereal packet is accepted - same thickness so whats the difference?!?!? Not only that but the app no longer works on my phone advises to reset my password - which i did .. still doesn’t work so can now only use on a tablet - lining up the camera to scan is fiddlier than zapping with your phone. Overall the update hasn’t encouraged me to keep using!!

We're so sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues in the app, please reach out to us in the help center in the app or via mail hello@getbower.com, we can then help you sort this out.

Regarding the points, we've had to make a shift recently. We completely understand that rewards per challenge/mission/etc. feels different from per-scan reward. We hope to be able to increase the amount of packages you get coins directly from scanning as we grow and get more brands to join our journey!