Fueling a Circular Economy through Collaboration
Recycling is crucial to achieving a successful circular economy, which in turn is imperative to a sustainable future. However, a recent study by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition revealed that only 59% of Americans have curbside access to recycling polypropylene (commonly referred to as No. 5 plastic) because many municipalities lack adequate investment and infrastructure to support the recycling process. And No. 5 plastic that is not properly collected or sorted cannot find a meaningful second life – even as corporate demand for post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic skyrockets. The barriers to achieving a circular economy – such as unequal access to recycling and inadequate consumer education on recycle-right behaviors – are too complex for any entity to tackle alone.
That’s why Keurig Dr Pepper is proud to celebrate our one-year anniversary as a founding member of The Recycling Partnerships’ Polypropylene Recycling Coalition. Recognizing success can only be found through collaboration, we joined forces with peers across the industry to create scalable solutions to packaging and system challenges with No. 5 plastic to accelerate the development of circular economies in more communities. In tandem with our steering committee partners Braskem, NextGen Consortium, the Walmart Foundation, and many others representing the entire polypropylene value chain, we are addressing recycling infrastructure challenges by providing grants to improve the ability for Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to collect, sort and recycle No. 5 plastic.
The Coalition just announced a third round of grants that will distribute $1.8 million to six MRFs across the country, further advancing No. 5 plastic recycling in the U.S. With this latest round of grants, the Coalition has now invested $4.2 million to date, which will improve curbside polypropylene recycling access for nearly 15 million Americans in just one year. We’re proud to be a member of the Coalition and look forward to driving further progress on our path toward achieving a circular economy in year two.
Read more about the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition’s efforts here on SustainableBrands.com.