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Public-Private Partnerships
Working with partners, ABA is providing grants
and working with local governments and waste
facilities to upgrade their recycling capabilities.
Locations include Dallas-Fort Worth, TX;
Baltimore, MD; and Clyde, OH.Consumer Education Efforts
“If we don’t have people recycling—not just
more, but better, from a quality point of view—
then we’re not going to have that input into
the system that we really need.”
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Keurig Dr PepperSustainable Packaging
“The more we can design for our packages
to be reused and remade into new packages,
the more we create the conditions for that to
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Alpa Sutaria, General Manager, Sustainability,
North America, The Coca-Cola CompanyBuilding a Circular
Economy for Plastics
Solutions on the Ground
Now is the time for real, meaningful action to ensure a sustainable future. How can we
change the ways we use and collect plastic and other recyclable material to reduce its
environmental footprint? The answer involves building a circular economy—one in which
companies use fewer brand-new materials and instead make recyclable packaging that
can be easily collected and remade over and over again.
Recently, the American Beverage Association (ABA) virtually convened a group of
experts, including ABA President and CEO Katherine Lugar, and sustainability and
policy experts from America’s leading beverage companies—The Coca-Cola Company,
Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo—to consider circular economy solutions. Industry and
environmental leaders, policymakers, and innovators gathered to discuss the role
of plastic in our products, our recycling systems, and the future of manufacturing.
They were hosted by Lilly Sedaghat, a National Geographic Explorer and
multimedia storyteller.From manufacturers to recyclers, experts see a world where end-of-life plastics
are recovered and reused, taking the place of virgin materials as much as possible.
Technology is playing a role in making this vision a reality. At AMP Robotics, HY[PÄJPHS
PU[LSSPNLUJL is enabling computers to untangle one of the biggest hurdles associated
with plastic waste: the complex job of sorting through recyclables. ABA’s ,]LY`)V[[SL
)HJR initiative aims to recover every one of the beverage industry’s 100 percent
recyclable plastic bottles, improving the quality and availability of recycled plastic in
key regions of the country in the process, so they can be remade into new
bottles as intended.
Experts also agree that policy has a huge role to play. ,_[LUKLK7YVK\JLY
9LZWVUZPIPSP[`,79—the idea of requiring producers to manage the end-of-life
processing for the products they make while making it easy for consumers to recycle—
is one example that is jointly supported by ABA and the >VYSK>PSKSPML-\UK >>-.
“Business is a key lever for change,” said Sheila Bonini, WWF’s senior vice president of
private sector engagement. “We think the private sector is really fundamental in working
together with government, working together with consumers—working across the whole
system.” 7\ISPJWYP]H[LWHY[ULYZOPWZ are also driving progress. ABA, together with
*SVZLK3VVW7HY[ULYZ *37 and ;OL9LJ`JSPUN7HY[ULYZOPW;97, have a nearly
half billion-dollar initiative dedicated to consumer education and modernizing recycling
infrastructure in communities across the country.Advertorial for American Beverage Association