FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts:
Kirsten Witt
Coca-Cola North America
404-676-0314
Alec Cooley
National Recycling Coalition
843-278-7686
COCA-COLA AND NATIONAL RECYCLING COALITION LAUNCH
RECYCLE BIN GRANT PROGRAM
Innovative Program to Provide Recycling Bins and Expertise
Atlanta, October 3, 2007 -- Coca-Cola and the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) today announced a new recycling bin grant program designed to promote and support community recycling in the U.S. Through this innovative grant, recipients will have the benefit of both the donated recycle bins and the expertise on how to set up recycling programs from the National Recycling Coalition. Grants will be provided for recycle bins at sporting events, music venues, schools and commercial locations. The grant program is part of Coca-Cola’s $60 million investment in recycling programs and initiatives in the U.S.
“We are excited to partner with Coca-Cola to offer a recycling bin grant program to communities and businesses,” said Kate Krebs, executive director of the National Recycling Coalition. “The program is designed to increase recycling rates across the country by helping to off-set the initial costs of recycling bins.”
The bin grant program leverages the purchasing power and expertise of the NRC and Coca-Cola to provide more recycling bins than would be possible if grant recipients were to purchase bins independently. The NRC also will contact grantees to offer guidance and consultation on setting up a recycling program, assess recycling bin needs and determine bin selection. NRC bin suppliers will then deliver bins directly to the recipients.
The grant program is open to city, government and school organizations as well as non-profit groups and for-profit companies. Interested parties may apply for the grant
at NRC’s website: http://bingrant.org/. Eligible grant activities include establishing a recycling program at schools, universities, sporting or recreation venues,
parks, cultural events or business and commercial locations. Grant recipients will be selected and awarded recycling bins throughout 2008.
“Coca-Cola has a long history of designing packages that are recyclable and resource efficient,” said Scott Vitters, director of sustainable packaging, The Coca-Cola Company. “We also are focused on ensuring strong end-markets for our packages through investments in commercial recycling and community collection programs like RecycleBank and the bin grant program. We hope this new program will further encourage communities to make recycling available as we continue to close the loop for our products as well as other valuable recyclables,”
Coca-Cola’s Support for Recycling in the U.S.
Coca-Cola recently announced a series of initiatives designed to enable the Company to achieve its long term goal to recycle or reuse all of its plastic bottles in the U.S. marketplace. In partnership with the United Resource Recovery Corporation (URRC), Coca-Cola will build the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. When fully operational in 2009, the plant will have the capacity to produce approximately 100 million pounds of food-grade recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic for reuse each year – the equivalent of producing nearly two billion 20-ounce Coca-Cola bottles.
Coca-Cola also has expanded its partnership and investment in RecycleBank, a successful community curbside recycling program. RecycleBank currently operates in
southern New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania and will be launching service in upstate New York, Vermont and Massachusetts in the fall of 2007. The additional investment from Coca-Cola will support a national rollout of the RecycleBank program by 2009.
Coca-Cola and its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises also announced the creation of Coca-Cola Recycling, a new subsidiary dedicated to recovering and recycling Coca-Cola packaging materials used within the Coca-Cola system in the U.S.
For more information about Coca-Cola recycling programs and initiatives,
please visit http://www.cokecce.com.
About the NRC
The NRC is a national, non-profit advocacy group with members that span all aspects of waste reduction, reuse and recycling in North America. NRC’s objective is to eliminate waste and promote sustainable economies though advancing sound management practices for raw materials in North America. NRC works with its members and partners to sponsor programs and stakeholder forums that provide tools and nurture solutions for the recycling industry. Breaking new ground in how Americans think about waste, the Coalition is a strong and clear voice for recycling. For more information about the NRC please visit http://www.nrc-recycle.org/.
About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company markets four of the world's top five nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, including the Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite brands, and a wide range of other beverages, including diet and light beverages, waters, juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees, energy and sports drinks.
Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate exceeding 1.4 billion servings each day. For more information about The Coca-Cola Company, please visit our website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com.
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