Tea Bottles in Times Square

This past April, Honest Tea kicked off a national recycling initiative called The Great Recycle in New York City. The one-day event featured a 30-foot tall inflatable recycling bin in Times Square, and New Yorkers were urged to bring their empty plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers for recycling.

Some 15,000 containers were collected. Honest Tea says the plastic bottles are being recycled into plastic lumber, which GrowNYC will use to build urban gardens for the city’s public schools as part of its Grow to Learn program.

Participants could redeem points at the on-site Trashed Recycle Store. Recycling Today talked with Peter Kaye, vice president of marketing for Honest Tea, to find out the details:

Q: How did you come up with this idea?

A: We’ve been very involved in sustainability for years in many ways. As we thought about it and were candid with ourselves, we knew that we make a product that is not recycled as much as we’d like it to be, so in many ways we were kind of part of the problem in the industry and we wanted to be part of the solution. As a result, we came up with this idea as an Earth-month themed event that tries to raise awareness of how easy it is to recycle more and make it fun and cool at the same time.

Q: Why is this event a good fit with Honest Tea and its philosophies?

A: Sustainability is such a fundamental part of how we run the business, and our commitment to sustainability is grounded very much in how we source our tea leaves, which come from organic farms in India and China. We realized that the biggest impact on the ecosystem here in the U.S. is our bottles. We wanted to take a very active role and talk to consumers about recycling so the full life cycle of our product, from sourcing to what happens to the bottle, is thought through.

Q: How long do you see this program going on?

A: For as long as there’s a need to raise awareness and get consumers to take greater action, and as long as we have good partners at the events who can help us showcase the giant bin and also help us get the word out.

Q: What partners were involved in the Great Recycle Event?

A: Global Inheritance ran the merchandise redemption booth, and we also worked with RecycleBank, which was linked to a digital component of the program where people could go online and make a personal pledge. GrowNYC did the urban garden and educational component. 5-Boro Green Services will recycle other items donated at the event. And our parent company, Coca-Cola, is a supporter of ours.