Recycling will become more convenient this summer when Keep America Beautiful and The Coca-Cola Company award 89 grants to communities in 41 states across the nation. The Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Recycling Bin Grant Program will provide 3,662 recycling bins to colleges and universities, along with 1,638 bins to local governments and nonprofit organizations. The recycling bins are made possible through a grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company. More than 66 percent of the bins are designed specifically for permanent, ongoing use in public spaces such as athletic fields, K-12 schools, fairs and festivals, special events and park settings, with the remaining 44 percent to be used by students in college residence hall settings. “Research has shown that convenience is a key factor in getting people to recycle,” said Brenda Pulley, senior vice president, recycling, Keep America Beautiful. “With Coca-Cola’s continued support, the recycling bins provided through the grant program create literally thousands of new opportunities for people to recycle in public areas across the country.”
The Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Recycling Bin Grant Program addresses lack of convenience by providing a significant number of bins in strategic locations. Including the 2015 grants, nearly 45,000 recycling bins will have been placed by the program in 560 communities nationwide since its inception in 2007. In addition to the grants, Keep America Beautiful provides technical best practice guidance to grant recipients and organizations about setting up effective away-from-home and on-the-go recycling programs. “Through this program and our more than 50-year partnership with Keep America Beautiful, we are helping to ensure that communities understand the importance of recycling,” said Lori George Billingsley, vice president, community relations, Coca-Cola North America. “Community recycling not only impacts the environment today, but it helps build sustainable communities for the future.”
Grant recipients were chosen by Keep America Beautiful based on their potential to collect the most cans and bottles as well other considerations such as the extent of their need, recycling experience, and their ability to sustain the program in the future. Special outreach was made to colleges and universities through a partnership with the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC), a membership organization serving campus recycling managers. A full list of the spring 2015 Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Recycling Bin Grant recipients, as well as Keep America Beautiful’s best practices guide, “Designing Effective Public Space Recycling Programs,” are available at bingrant.org.
For more information, visit kab.org.