All In On Recycling secures $25M in funding

The PepsiCo Foundation, Purchase New York, and The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, have announced that their joint All In On Recycling challenge has raised $25 million since its launch in July 2018. 

All In On Recycling is a large, industry-led recycling challenge in the U.S. Funds raised from the challenge are helping cities invest in new infrastructure, like curbside carts, which are a proven way to double the number of recyclables recovered. Funding is also supporting education programs to teach residents what can and cannot be recycled, helping to prevent “wishcycling.”  

“When The Recycling Partnership and PepsiCo launched this challenge a year ago, we recognized the need for significant collective action to improve recycling in the U.S., and we are pleased to see our partners and peers step up and lend support to this effort,” says Simon Lowden, chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo. “However, this is only the beginning, and we must continue to work together to create the scale of change needed to strengthen our recycling system. This is critical to reduce waste that ends up in our oceans and environments, to meet the growing demand for recycled content that powers the circular economy and to support a more sustainable future.”

Through the All In On Recycling challenge this past year, The Recycling Partnership has made investments to improve recycling programs in Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and New Jersey. To date, nearly 115,000 carts have been distributed or are in the process of going to households across the country as a result of this effort. The challenge has a goal of distributing carts to more than 550,000 households within five years. PepsiCo Foundation reports that these new carts are expected to capture 55 million pounds of new recyclables per year.

In addition, The Recycling Partnership plans to expand its education and recycling program efforts to North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee and other locations in 2020, the nonprofit reports in a news release on the challenge.

“Developing a sustainable recycling system is critical to the future of our planet. The All In On Recycling challenge gives us the opportunity to come together as communities, regions and states, global corporations and as individuals, to change our path towards a healthier future,” says Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership. “A circular economy where global brands can partner with nonprofits to invest in community infrastructure to better capture recyclables, educate residents on what to recycle and where and bring all stakeholders together in partnership is one that everyone should get behind. After all, we’re all in this bin together.”

Closer look

One area that has benefited from the All In On Recycling challenge investment is central Ohio, where The Recycling Partnership has been working with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio and distributed 38,000 carts to five communities in the area—Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, Bexley, Blendon Township and Westerville—earlier this year. According to The Recycling Partnership, these households were upgraded from 18-gallon bins to 65-gallon carts, which can collect more materials and also reduce litter from flying out of smaller bins. Officials in the area are performing a “capture rate” study on the materials collected from these carts to identify areas for increased recycling education and opportunities for improvement. Results of the study are anticipated to be completed in November.

An additional grant from The Recycling Partnership has funded a recycling education campaign in several city of Columbus, Ohio, neighborhoods to reduce contamination in the city’s recycling stream and control program costs. “This important grant has allowed us to further educate residents about acceptable items to place in their curbside recycling containers,” says Tim Swauger, administrator of the Columbus Division of Refuse Collection. “As a result, many residents are gaining a better understanding of how to recycle correctly to benefit the sustainability of our recycling program.”

Update on funding

The All In On Recycling challenge kicked off with an initial $10 million in funding from The PepsiCo Foundation. Over the past year, $15 million in support has been raised from major companies and organizations across a variety of industries, including Alcoa Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive and Target, PepsiCo Foundation reports in a news release. In addition to these contributions, more than 2,800 communities are expected to participate in the initiative, which will triple the collective investment, catalyzing roughly $75 million in municipal funding and bringing the total amount of support to $100 million. Currently, more than $12 million in municipal funding has been invested in U.S. recycling as a result of the challenge, with more in the pipeline.

“As a founding partner of The Recycling Partnership, Alcoa Foundation has always believed in The Partnership's mission to transform recycling for good,” says Rosa García Pineiro, vice president of sustainability, Alcoa Corp. and president of Alcoa Foundation. “We’re proud to support the All In On Recycling challenge, which calls on leading companies to join PepsiCo, Alcoa and others to help The Recycling Partnership drive change and make it easier for 25 million families across the country to recycle more and recycle better.”