American Beverage funds new recycling facility

American Beverage has announced a $25,000 grant for Atlanta-based nonprofit Live Thrive to fund new equipment that will increase the number of materials recycled at its facility in DeKalb County, Georgia. 

The funds will provide a new baler to Live Thrive’s Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM), a drop-off facility for residents who do not have access to recycling services at home. The center accepts items such as mattresses and bicycles, along with everyday recyclables such as beverage bottles and used beverage cans, to be remade into new ones. 

The investment will provide more than 300,000 households with an additional drop-off site for recyclables and will support community outreach to residents on what types of materials can be recycled at the new facility. 

“We are excited to support DeKalb County’s efforts to make recycling more effective and easier for people to take part in,” says Kevin Keane, president and CEO of Washington-based American Beverage. “Investments like this help create a circular economy for all recyclable materials, including our bottles and cans and modernized recycling systems will reduce the use of new plastic.”

The facility will collect an estimated 26 million more pounds of recyclables, including nearly 1.5 million pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. 

“The investment in DeKalb County embodies Georgia Beverage Association’s continued effort to invest in Georgia’s environmental future,” says Kevin Perry, president and CEO of the Georgia Beverage Association, Atlanta. “We are proud to support Live Thrive and its mission to create a community that prioritizes a healthier and more sustainable ecosystem for recyclable goods.” 

The new drop-off recycling center is Live Thrive’s second CHaRM facility in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is the second investment in Georgia of the Every Bottle Back initiative, an effort by the leading members of the beverage industry to improve recycling systems and the remaking of beverage bottles and cans. Every Bottle Back has committed $39.1 million to 65 community projects nationwide. The company says these investments are estimated to yield nearly 915 million new pounds of recycled PET and more than 87 million more pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade.