International Bottled Water Assocation Joins Curbside Value Partnership

International Bottled Water Association | NEWS RELEASE | April 17, 2012

International Bottled Water Assocation Joins Curbside Value Partnership

ARLINGTON, Va.— In its ongoing quest to provide companies and organizations with a voluntary solution to the urgent need to address recycling rates, the Curbside Value Partnership (CVP), is proud to announce another addition to its sponsor list: the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). CVP, a national nonprofit organization that works to increase participation and tonnage collected in residential curbside recycling programs, welcomes IBWA, the leading voice of the bottled water industry.

“Just feet from the curb, Americans make decisions every day about whether or not to recycle,” said David Gill, CVP board chair and global account director at Novelis. “This decision is heavily dependent on their attitudes about recycling and their knowledge of the options available. Pooling resources nationally, we can make a bigger impact on those critical decisions locally. That’s why we’re delighted to have IBWA involved to help our efforts.” “This is a natural fit for IBWA,” said Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association. “As part of our commitment to reducing the environmental footprint of the bottled water industry, we are working to get more bottled water containers into the recycling stream.

The good news is that bottled water drinkers are among the best beverage container recyclers, with 32.25 percent of plastic bottles recovered through curbside programs in 2010, more than doubling in the last six years. CVP is on the ground right now, creating a real sense of urgency about recycling, focusing on local consumer marketing, and emphasizing data-based decision making and measurement. We view this as a truly effective way to improve recycling rates for all consumer packaging, not just bottled water.” IBWA joins the growing list of companies and nonprofits that support CVP, including Alcoa, American Chemistry Council, Ball Corporation, BWAY Corporation, Crown Holdings Inc, Coca Cola Recycling, Impress USA, Golden Aluminum, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Keep America Beautiful, Metal Container Corporation, Novelis, Rexam, Silgan Containers Corporation, Sonoco-Phoenix Inc, Tri-Arrow Aluminum and the Van Can Company.

CVP is an independent 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping communities increase participation in and tonnage collected from their residential curbside recycling programs. This is done through grassroots education campaigns that reach and motivate consumers, as well as ongoing data analysis to help accurately measure success. CVP recently unveiled a new tool designed specifically for anyone responsible to educate their residents about recycling. Called CVP Connect (www.CVPConnect.org) , it is a web-based communications training destination for resources and guidance on developing, executing and measuring strategic and effective education campaigns. The tool is free with the only requirement being that users must report their recycling data, which will provide CVP with tangible data on the success of CVP Connect by each community engaged as well as collectively. CVP’s community-focused efforts are creating real recycling success stories. Greenville, North Carolina, partnered with CVP in 2009 to plan and execute a recycling education campaign, allocating $40,000 as a test to see if education could impact recycling tonnage.

As a result, Greenville experienced a 10.4 percent increase in recycling within the first year of the campaign, and that success resulted in a continuation of recycling education funding that continues to improve their recycling tonnage (up 10.5 percent in 2011). Baton Rouge, Louisiana, saw a 35 percent jump in recycling collection in 2006 when it switched to single- stream recycling and provided residents with larger carts. But that fell short of the mayor’s goal of increasing recycling tonnage by 50 percent. In 2007, Baton Rouge partnered with CVP to try to get closer to reaching the goal. Together, they developed and implemented a campaign with consistent visuals and messages linking recycling to pride in the city. The campaign was a great success, helping Baton Rouge increase recycling tonnage over the 50 percent goal.

ABOUT THE CURBSIDE VALUE PARTNERSHIP The Curbside Value Partnership (CVP) is a 501(c) (3) organization designed to grow participation in curbside recycling programs nationwide. It is the only current national program that engages all recycling stakeholders (including government, private industry, haulers and materials recovery facilities) to identify solutions to improving curbside recycling programs through education and data analysis. CVP’s goal is to launch and study education programs to increase participation in local curbside programs, and make programs more profitable and sustainable. To date, 28 communities and four states have been engaged by CVP in education campaigns. The program is currently funded by members of the Aluminum Association (Alcoa, Tri-Arrow Aluminum and Novelis), Can Manufacturers Institute (Ardagh Group, Ball Corporation, BWAY Corporation, Crown Holdings Inc., Metal Container Corporation, Rexam, Silgan Containers Corporation, Sonoco-Phoenix Inc and the Van Can Company) as well as the American Chemistry Council, Coca Cola Recycling, Grocery Manufacturers Association and Keep America Beautiful. Other corporate sponsors interested in impacting recycling rates in a meaningful way are always welcome.

For more information, visit www.RecycleCurbside.org.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL BOTTLED WATER ASSOCIATION The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the authoritative source of information about all types of bottled water, including spring, artesian, mineral, sparkling, distilled and purified.

Founded in 1958, IBWA’s membership includes U.S. and international bottlers, distributors, and suppliers. IBWA is committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, and state governments to set stringent standards for safe, high quality bottled water products.

For more information, please visit www.bottledwater.org.

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The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the authoritative source of information about all types of bottled waters, including spring, mineral, purified, artesian, and sparkling. Founded in 1958, IBWA’s membership includes U.S. and international bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA is committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, to set comprehensive and stringent standards for safe, high-quality bottled water products.  

In addition to FDA regulations, IBWA member bottlers must adhere to the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates additional standards and practices that in some cases are more stringent than federal and state regulations. A key feature of the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice is a mandatory annual plant inspection by an independent, third-party organization.  

IBWA is proud to be a partner with Keep America Beautiful and a supporter of Drink Up, an initiative of former First Lady Michelle Obama and the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which encourages Americans to drink more water more often – whether from the tap, a filter, or in a bottle. Choosing water is always the healthy choice.