PepsiCo., The Recycling Partnership Announce New Challenge to Increase Residential Recycling

The PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Pepsi, and national nonprofit The Recycling Partnership, announced the launch of “All In On Recycling,” an industry-wide residential recycling challenge to make recycling easier for 25 million families across the country, providing them with the resources they need to recycle more and recycle better.

The PepsiCo Foundation is providing $10 million in funding to jumpstart the challenge. The goal of the challenge is to raise $25 million in total donations from businesses, companies and organizations. In addition to contributions from other corporations, the more than 2,800 communities that participate in the initiative are expected to triple the collective investment, catalyzing roughly $75 million in municipal funding, and bringing the total amount of support to $100 million.

Half of the total funds raised by this challenge is expected to help provide:

• Curbside carts to more than 550,000 households.
• The missing infrastructure needed to recover recyclables from multi-family homes such as apartment buildings and condos, which is one of the most challenging segments of the population to serve.

The other half of the funding will support critical recycling education and operational programs that will increase collection of recyclables while reducing contamination.

The plan is to utilize some of the funds raised from the initiative to provide recycling solutions across the country to cities such as Miami and El Paso, as well as the state of Michigan and the Central Ohio region, to name a few places.

The Recycling Partnership estimates the “All In On Recycling” challenge will help the U.S. capture 1.9 million tons of quality recyclable materials over the next five years, including 7 billion bottles and cans.

“We all must work to protect and reuse our world’s limited natural resources,” said Tim Carey, Senior Director of Sustainability at PepsiCo. “When it comes to U.S. recycling, PepsiCo has a long history of working with stakeholders and investing to improve recycling rates, and we’ve learned a lot. Our holistic approach includes making packaging more sustainable and investing in infrastructure to make recycling easier and more convenient—all to get recyclable materials back and support a circular economy. I encourage everyone who wants to make a difference to join the challenge so that, together, we lift U.S. recycling rates and close the loop.”

By 2025, PepsiCo's goals are:

• To design 100 percent of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable or, biodegradable
• Increase recycled materials in its plastic packaging
• Reduce packaging’s carbon impact
• Increase recycling rates

PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation have already invested approximately $55 million in recycling efforts in the U.S. in the last 9 years alone.