American Beverage funds grant in Alabama

American Beverage, the Washington-based group that represents the nonalcoholic beverage industry in the United States, has awarded a $57,000 grant through its Every Bottle Back to help support the creation of a new recycling collection facility in Mobile, Alabama.

The grant is being awarded through The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, and is the first Every Bottle Back investment of its kind in Alabama.

American Beverage considers the funds an investment into a public-private partnership effort to fund the construction of a new recycling facility in southeastern Mobile. The grant will go in part to hiring an on-site attendant to oversee the new facility and bring recycling education outreach to nearly 100,000 households.

“We are excited to help provide access to modernized recycling collection for residents of Mobile with the first Every Bottle Back investment in the great state of Alabama,” American Beverage President and CEO Kevin Keane says.

“Supporting this new facility will improve recycling rates and ensure that our recyclable bottles and cans can be properly collected and remade as intended, and that helps us reduce our use of new plastic."

The new drop-off recycling facility could significantly boost the number of recyclable materials gathered and processed in the region. Over the next decade, American Beverage projects that this investment will result in the collection of 130,000 new pounds (65 tons) of aluminum and 390,000 pounds (195 tons) of new polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

“Communities across Alabama need greater access to recycling, and thanks to this investment Mobile residents will soon be able to recycle valuable beverage containers easier than ever before," Alabama Beverage Association President Virginia Banister says.

“We are thankful to work with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and The Recycling Partnership to bring this facility to life and look forward to continuing find ways to create a cleaner and more sustainable future for Alabamians.”

The investment in Mobile is one of 53 initial projects American Beverage has committed to fund through its Every Bottle Back initiative. To date, the group's investments are estimated to yield more than 900 million new pounds (450,000 tons) of PET and 87 million more pounds (43,500 tons) of aluminum over the next decade.

“The Recycling Partnership is pleased to work with the city of Mobile and our partners to improve recycling access in Alabama,” says Cody Marshall, strategy officer at The Recycling Partnership. “This new recycling drop-off site will give Mobile residents the opportunity to recycle more, leading to more materials able to go back into the circular economy to provide much needed feedback for manufacturers.