“Feet on the Street” program reduced city recycling contamination by 21 percent.

 

PHOTO: (from left) Alita Kane, The Recycling Partnership; Elizabeth DeWitt, Florida Beverage Association; Cody Marshall, The Recycling Partnership; Ron Salem, president of the Jacksonville City Council; and Eric Fuller, City of Jacksonville.

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The American Beverage and Florida Beverage Association joined the City of Jacksonville and The Recycling Project today to announce the success of a yearlong, industry-funded “Feet on the Street” recycling education campaign.

The campaign—launched in April 2023 to reduce contamination and improve resident education—reached more than 230,000 households in Jacksonville. The effort resulted in a 23 percent reduction in contamination, driven by 12 percent of participants changing behavior after receiving direct recycling education.

“This investment is another example of the beverage industry’s steadfast commitment to improving recycling in Jacksonville and throughout Florida,” Elizabeth DeWitt, president and CEO of the Florida Beverage Association, said. "When we reduce contamination in the recycling stream, more materials like our bottles and cans can be remade into new products as intended. The success in Jacksonville provides a road map for how communities and business can work together to improve the effectiveness of recycling programs."

Throughout the campaign, Jacksonville residents received personalized and real-time curbside recycling education and feedback. Education focused on ensuring recyclables are loose in carts instead of bagged and keeping items with food residue, batteries, cables, and small electronics out of recycling bins.

The campaign is expected to result in 96 million new pounds of recyclable materials collected in Jacksonville over the next decade. This includes more than 3.7 million pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and more than 1.2 million pounds of aluminum.

The City of Jacksonville received a $560,000 grant in April 2023 as part of the Every Bottle Back initiative, which The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo launched in 2019 with sustainability partners, Closed Loop Partners, The Recycling Partnership, and World Wildlife Fund. To date, the beverage industry has committed $39.1 million to 65 community projects nationwide. These investments are estimated to yield nearly 915 million new pounds of recycled PET and more than 87 million more pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade.

About Florida Beverage’s Every Bottle Back initiative:

The Every Bottle Back initiative is an integrated and comprehensive initiative by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo, alongside sustainability leaders Closed Loop Partners, The Recycling Partnership, and World Wildlife Fund, designed to improve plastics. Learn more at www.FlaBev.org/EBB

VIDEO: This initiative could not have been possible without the strong partnership with City Councilman Ron Salem, the Florida Beverage Association's Elizabeth DeWitt, and The Recycling Partnership's Cody Marshall. Watch the video to learn more:

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