Coca-Cola awarding $5.4 million to community recycling pilots in US

The Coca-Cola Foundation is reportedly funding community recycling pilots in seven cities across the United States, in a bid to encourage their efforts. The amount it is giving is $5.4 million, including $4 million for a three-year programme with the Recycling Partnership in Atlanta.

“In each pilot city, local partners will work together to identify barriers to recycling on a local level and test a range of solutions,” said Carlos Pagoaga, group director of community partnerships for the Coca-Cola Foundation.

In 2017, Recycling Partnership, with funding from Coca-Cola North America, had reached 5,000 households in Atlanta for a recycling education project. With the new grant, it aims to reach 10,000 households in the next three years.

Street teams will pay a visit to every zip code in the city and look at recycling bins. They will mark each bin with a card that will inform residents what they can and cannot recycle, and how. Their ultimate goal is to reduce recycling contamination and measurably improve recycling rates.

“Two of the most pressing issues with recycling in the U.S. today are lack of access, followed by contamination in the recycling stream,” said Keefe Harrison, CEO of the Recycling Partnership.

After supporting recycling efforts in Atlanta, Chicago, and Denver, the Coca-Cola Foundation concluded last month that cleaner recycling streams generated more value for recyclers. Besides the informational tags on carts, teams spread the word through bus ads, billboards, social media, and neighborhood campaigning.

Within a matter of month, the pilot routes showed improvement. Atlanta saw a 57% reduction in contamination, Chicago had a 30% reduction in contamination, and Denver saw a 25% increase in aluminum can recovery.

Early last year, Coca-Cola started an initiative called World Without Waste that aims to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can that company sells globally by 2030.

“Recycling is an issue that cannot be solved at a national level,” said Bruce Karas, vice president, environment and sustainability, Coca-Cola North America. “Wrapping our arms around the challenge at the local level is how we will make measurable progress.”