BlueTriton, Replenysh partner to recycle PET in Jackson, Mississippi

BlueTriton Brands, Stamford, Connecticut, has partnered with Orange County, California-based Replenysh to expand a plastic bottle recycling project in Jackson, Mississippi.

According to a news release from BlueTriton Brands, Jackson has lacked a plastic bottle recycling program for more than three years. Additionally, the city has been under a state of emergency regarding its water system since late August and has an increased need for bottled drinking water. BlueTriton says those two factors prompted it to invest in developing a plastic bottle recycling program in Jackson.

Through the partnership with Replenysh, BlueTriton has funded for Replenysh to add up to 15 drop-off recycling locations in Jackson. BlueTriton says its initial contribution to Replenysh was $10,000 to expand its collection activities in Jackson. BlueTriton tells Recycling Today that it has worked with Replenysh in the past and is excited to continue that partnership through this project.

“At BlueTriton, we design our products and processes to keep valuable packaging materials in circulation through reuse and recycling; however, there are critical gaps in recycling collection systems, which limit how often common packaging materials are recycled and made into new products,” says Ed Ferguson, chief sustainability officer at BlueTriton Brands. “We are ecstatic to partner with Replenysh on this project because it will reduce waste in the Jackson community and represents an important step for improving collection and recycling of packaging like bottles, cardboard and plastic film.”

Mark Armen, founder and owner of Replenysh, says the recycling locations initially focused on collecting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for recycling. He says collection sites are at various community hubs in Jackson, such as high schools, grade schools and water distribution sites. Each site features Replenysh super sacks to collect PET.

Armen adds that some Jackson community members also had expressed interest in recycling old corrugated containers (OCC) and plastic film sheets, so some of the drop-off sites also feature Replenysh super sacks to collect each of those materials as well. When the super sacks are filled, Armen says the Replenysh platform notifies EnvironMentality, a local recycler, to collect those materials to be processed and sold.

Since rolling out drop-off sites in Jackson the first week of September, BlueTriton says 1,723 pounds of PET bottles have been collected for recycling in Jackson. The project also has recovered items, such as 2,355 pounds of OCC and 298 pounds of plastic film sheets.

“With hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles being distributed for safe drinking water, we wanted to do the right thing to prevent another crisis with more plastic sent to landfill,” says Clark Dinnison, head of product at Replenysh. “By partnering with Keep Jackson Beautiful and locations across town, collection infrastructure was set up in a matter of days to ensure the bottles get recycled and turned back into new bottles. The exciting part is that this solution isn’t temporary, and Jackson will be able to enjoy a convenient and transparent recycling program indefinitely.”

BlueTriton says it has donated more than 300,000 bottles of its Ozarka brand bottled water to Jackson since the water crisis began at the end of August and plans to continue to support Replenysh to collect and recycle those bottles through this project.