Niagara Bottling joins The Recycling Partnership

Ontario, California-based Niagara Bottling LLC has joined The Recycling Partnership, a Falls Church-Virginia-based nonprofit group that says its mission is “to transform recycling in states, cities and communities across the country.”

Niagara Bottling, which operates beverage bottling facilities in the United States and Mexico, joins 38 other companies, brands and organizations, including Coca-Cola, Target, Pepsi, P&G, Heineken, ExxonMobil, Amazon and Unilever’s Love Beauty and Planet, in the partnership.

“We’re pleased to welcome Niagara Bottling to The Recycling Partnership,” says Beth Schmitt, the group’s senior director of corporate partnerships. “As a true innovator, Niagara Bottling understands that by joining our growing coalition of leading partners, they are helping deliver swift, measurable change in recycling across the country. Their support means that we can help more people recycle to create a healthier environment, economy and planet.”

Niagara Bottling, a family owned and operated business founded in 1963, describes itself as one of the largest consumers of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) in North America. The company also says it has reduced the amount of PET in its Eco-Air Bottle by more than 50 percent in the past 10 years.

“We are very proud of the fact that over the last 20 years Niagara has been leading the beverage industry in innovation, sustainability, process efficiency and packaging material reduction,” says Brian Hess, an executive vice president with the firm. “Becoming a part of The Recycling Partnership is a clear and powerful way for us to expand our waste reduction efforts and make a positive impact on our communities, and the environment by contributing to the cost and effort necessary to make curbside recycling a reality in every community in the United States.”

Since 2014, The Recycling Partnership says it has reached 33 million households in 640 communities – almost a quarter of the U.S. population – through its efforts to improve recycling access and increase the quality of recyclables. The Partnership indicates it has leveraged $29 million in infrastructure, diverting a total of 115 million pounds of recyclables from landfills, avoiding 164,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and saving 2 trillion BTUs of energy. The Recycling Partnership diverts more than 50 million pounds of recyclables from landfill, it claims, which is the equivalent of taking 13,000 cars off the road.

The Recycling Partnership says its goals are to help the U.S. double its current recycling rate and capture 22 million more tons of recyclables per year, avoid 50 million metric tons of greenhouse gas annually and save $250 million in contamination costs every year.

“The more support we receive from leading companies like Niagara Bottling, the more people we can impact,” says Schmitt.

The Recycling Partnership says by the end of 2018 it expects to have served 750 communities with tools, resources and technical support, provided 500,000 recycling carts, reached 40 million households, and helped companies and cities invest more than $33 million in recycling infrastructure.