HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. – American Beverage is investing $148,800 to support the Township of Hamilton and the Atlantic County Utilities Authority as they move to modernized, automated recycling collections. The Every Bottle Back grant—with The Recycling Partnership—funds free, standardized 96-gallon recycling carts and supports residential outreach on what materials can be recycled using the new carts.

"With this investment, the Township of Hamilton can make it easier and more accessible for residents to recycle, which means more of our valuable plastic bottles and cans can be collected and remade as intended,” said American Beverage President and CEO Kevin Keane. “This is one more way that New Jersey’s beverage companies are working at every step to reduce the use of new plastic and keep it out of nature.” 

The transition to the 96-gallon carts is expected to yield more than 5 million new pounds of recycled material over the next decade. This includes nearly 200,000 pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and more than 65,000 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.

“We need both accessible, modern recycling programs and well-designed policy—like that passed in Colorado or Minnesota—to achieve our collective goal of a circular economy. We look forward to working towards successful policy in New Jersey that is built on proven principles for recycling more materials and reducing waste in the environment,” 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. 

 

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