Recycling Partnership in the US grant first funding to the city of Columbia
Global packaging group Amcor joins a group of industry partners in the Recycling Partnership, a collaborative, industry-funded effort designed to boost residential recycling in the US.
Its first public grant of US$300,000 goes to the city of Columbia, where a complete modernization of the city's residential curbside recycling program will be undertaken.
Amcor's donation is made through its Amcor Community Program.
"The Recycling Partnership provides the initial funding to help communities prioritize recycling among other important municipal projects," said Charlie Schwarze, Global Sustainability Manager at Amcor Rigid Plastics. "This investment also serves a dual-purpose within Amcor by enabling us to invest in a community where we operate and also increase the amount of valuable recycled PET material for future conversion."
As part of the program, some 34,000 households will receive 96-gallon carts, technical assistance, and recycling education/outreach. During the next 10 years, Columbia's improved recycling efforts are expected to produce a savings of 236 million gallons of water, 1.2 million BTUs of energy, and 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases.
At present, four partner cites will be given technical and financial assistance by the initiative, including Columbia, Richmond, Florence, with a fourth city to be announced later this year.
Projections show that cities receiving Recycling Partnership grants and technical assistance could realistically increase recovery of recyclable materials by more than 200%, bringing them on par with some of the top performing programs in the country. The City of Columbia, specifically, expects to see a 500% increase in recovered material.
The Recycling Partnership, formed in 2014 and led by the Curbside Value Partniership, also include the Alcoa Foundation, Amcor, American Chemistry Council, American Forest & Paper Association, the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, Ball Corp., Carton Council, Coca-Cola, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, and Sonoco Products.
