Missouri’s Beverage Companies Upgrade Recycling for Thousands of St. Peters Households

Posted Nov. 18, 2024

$320,000 Every Bottle Back grant provides 20,000 households with new, upgraded recycling carts

ST. PETERS, Mo. – American Beverage is investing $320,000 to support the City of St. Peters’ efforts to upgrade recycling services for 20,000 households. The grant funds new 95-gallon recycling carts, designed to make recycling easier and more efficient for residents in both St. Peters and neighboring Cottleville. To maximize impact, the grant also supports educational materials for residents on how to recycle properly and ensure a smooth transition to the new collection process. 

“Missouri’s beverage companies are proud to support these upgrades, which will make recycling more convenient for our neighbors in St. Peters and Cottleville,” said Bill Gamble, executive director of Missouri Beverage Association. “When recycling is modernized and accessible, it means more recyclable materials — especially our valuable bottles and cans — can be collected and remade into new products as intended, rather than discarded into landfills or nature.”  

The new 95-gallon carts will replace the city’s outdated “Blue Cart Crew” bag-based recycling collection program, which currently requires residents to sort recyclables into separate bags. With the new carts, residents will now have the convenience of placing all recyclables into a single container, simplifying the process and increasing overall collection efficiency. 

This project, a collaboration with The Recycling Partnership, is expected to produce more than 46.6 million pounds of new recyclables over the next decade, including 1.9 million pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and 645,840 pounds of aluminum, which are used to make recyclable bottles and cans.  

Since launching five years ago, Every Bottle Back—an initiative of The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo—has reached 14 million Americans through $28.5 million in funding nationwide. In total, the investments across 49 communities are estimated to yield 705 million new pounds of recycled PET and 43 million more pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade. 

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