There are times in life when the carrot is called for, and other times when the stick is what does the job (if you’ve ever tried to get a dog to fetch a carrot, or served up some boiled sticks with your Sunday roast, you’ll know what Greenbang means.) Ask Recyclebank – they’ve just got $30 million of funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to venturebeat.com – and their whole business model works around the carrot principle.

It goes like this: Recyclebank tracks consumers’ recycling habits, with all the good recyclers getting credits to spend with local and national business. The better you are with your rubbish, the more you get to spend. It’s simple, but it’s devilishly smart.

And the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers isn’t even the first company to get involved with the company this month. A couple of weeks ago, Recyclebank secured $13.1 million in Series A funding from RRE Ventures and Sigma Partners, money which will be spent expanding the company to new areas and developing “many more strategic and key partnerships”.

• VCs put $1.2bn up for grabs for start-ups
• Two VC clean tech funds close with over $150 million
• Clean tech gets $2.2bn VC bonanza
• Defra demands more energy from unloved logs
• Foundation Capital opens $250m clean tech fund
• Ken Livingstone gives London businesses sustainable makeover
• Avoid the landfill, save big money
• Researchers study how to reuse waste in creative, local ways
• Early-stage tech firms reap £52.5m in investment
• Venture capital has ‘weathered the storm,’ awards show