The Ohio Beverage Association applauded the launch of the Every Bottle Back initiative, a breakthrough effort by America’s leading beverage companies – The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo – to reduce the industry’s use of new plastic by making significant investments to improve the collection of the industry’s uniquely valuable plastic bottles.
The initiative, spearheaded by the American Beverage Association (ABA), will reinforce the value of the industry’s 100 percent recyclable bottles and caps, make significant investments to support the circular plastics economy and increase the amount of recycled plastic available so it can be remade into new bottles and not end up as waste in oceans, rivers or landfills.
The Every Bottle Back initiative will:
1. Launch a public awareness campaign to help consumers understand the value of 100 percent recyclable bottles through community outreach and partner engagement and reinforce the importance of getting these bottles back, so they can be remade into new bottles. According to a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies (POS), nearly half of consumers were unaware that beverage companies are already making bottles that are 100 percent recyclable, including the caps.
2. Work together to leverage packaging to remind consumers that bottles are 100 percent recyclable and can be remade into new bottles. Beverage companies will begin introducing voluntary messaging on packages beginning in late 2020.
3. Measure industry progress in reducing the use of new plastic in the U.S. through a collaboration with ReSource: Plastic, the World Wildlife Fund’s corporate activation hub. Specifically, ABA will use the ReSource: Plastic accounting methodology to track the collective progress made on reducing the use of new plastic.
4. Improve the quality and availability of recycled plastic in key regions of the country, including Ohio, by directing the equivalent of $400 million to The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners through a new $100 million industry fund that will be matched three-to-one by other grants and investors. The investments will be used to improve sorting, processing and collection in areas with the biggest infrastructure gaps to help increase the amount of recycled plastic available to be remade into beverage bottles.
“Consumers want to feel good about the beverages they enjoy but are rightfully frustrated when they see our bottles in oceans, rivers or beaches,” said Katherine Lugar, president and chief executive officer of the American Beverage Association. “Our industry is making a commitment to use less new plastic in its beverage containers with investments to reclaim more plastic bottles and partnering with the preeminent environmental and sustainability leaders to do so. Not enough consumers know our bottles were intentionally designed to be remade, and when collected, our industry uses less new plastic. That is why this initiative is so important. The support of the Ohio Beverage Association will help advance this program locally, and I look forward to working with them to build on our ongoing commitment to protecting Ohio’s environment for generations to come.”
The efforts support other sustainability efforts underway by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo.
Published in the December 2019 Edition