SYRACUSE, N.Y. – American Beverage is investing $728,000 to support the city of Syracuse as they upgrade recycling services to automated curbside collections. The Every Bottle Back grant, through The Recycling Partnership, provides every single-family household in Syracuse with free, upgraded 95-gallon recycling carts. It also supports residential outreach on what materials can be recycled using the new carts.

“Our bottles and cans are made to be remade. Whether redeemed or recycled at home, New York’s beverage companies want our valuable containers back. These upgrades in Syracuse will go a long way to make recycling more accessible for residents and more effective at keeping recyclables out of landfills where they don’t belong,” said American Beverage President and CEO Kevin Keane.  

The transition from 18-gallon bins increases recycling capacity for households by more than 400%. This is expected to yield 48.7 million new pounds of recycled material over the next decade.  

This includes 1.9 million pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and 633,600 pounds of aluminum, which are used to make recyclable bottles and cans. With more recycled materials, the beverage industry can reduce the use of virgin plastic and create more bottles out of 100% recycled content. 

“Modernizing recycling infrastructure is only one piece of the puzzle. These efforts must be combined with well-designed collection policy including a modernized deposit system. New York’s beverage companies look forward to working with state leaders to advance policy that can help achieve our collective goal of reducing the use of new plastic and creating a circular economy,” Keane added. 

This investment is part of 67 initial projects that the leading members of the beverage industry—The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo—and its sustainability partners have committed to fund through Every Bottle Back. To date, the beverage industry has committed $39.5 million in funding nationwide. In total, these investments are estimated to yield nearly 916 million new pounds of recycled PET and more than 87 million more pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade.