Tropicana, WM Team up to Recycle Beverage Cartons
Tropicana, a division of PepsiCo and the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices, and Waste Management, the largest residential recycler, announced on April 2 the launch of a national initiative to increase the number of juice and milk cartons for recycling.
Waste Management will be accepting juice and milk beverage cartons at all of its recycling processing facilities across the country. The initiative will kick-off the long-term goal of increasing beverage carton recycling to every community across the nation, which will be promoted through the Carton Council.
In areas currently accepting cartons, residents can easily recycle juice, milk, soy, broth, and other beverage cartons by placing them in their recycling bins as part of their curbside recycling program. For consumers who must separate recyclables, cartons can be placed with bottles and cans. Consumers can quickly find out if their municipality accepts cartons by visiting www.recyclecartons.com. Consumers that do not have access to curbside collection of containers are able to go to www.thinkgreenfromhome.com and purchase an in-home recycling container.
"Tropicana is dedicated to minimizing its impact on the Earth and making it easier for consumers to do their part through recycling and waste reduction initiatives," said Andrew Hartshorn, senior marketing manager, Tropicana Products, Inc. "We are proud to be working with Waste Management to promote the expansion of carton recycling across the country and finding new ways to recycle our products into environmentally beneficial products."
"Waste Management is dedicated to making recycling more accessible for consumers across the country," said Robert Dishman, director for Waste Management Recycle America. "One of our sustainability goals is to triple the amount of recyclables we process from nearly eight million to 20 million tons by 2020 with the support of companies like Tropicana."
Tropicana, Waste Management, Dean Foods (T.G. Lee Dairy, Horizon Organic and Silk) and the Carton Council (Evergreen Packaging, Tetra Pak, Sig Combibloc, and Elopak) launched a successful pilot in Tampa, Fla., to expand carton recycling and to educate consumers to recycle their cartons. Encouraged by the Florida Pilot, the initiative is now expanding to include all areas that Waste Management has recycling processing facilities.
Waste Management separates the cartons from the other recyclables and sends them to secondary mills for recycling. Juice and milk cartons, like those used by Tropicana, are recycled through a process called hydropulping, which recovers the paper fibers. The fibers are then recycled into tissue, paper towels, and other paper products.
The Tropicana carton is largely made of a renewable resource (85 percent paper and 15 percent polymer). The paper board in Tropicana's carton recently received certification from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (www.sfiprogram.org) under its fiber-sourcing certification program.