International Bottled Water Association | NEWS RELEASE | November 15, 2018
The Bottled Water Industry Encourages Everyone to #PutItInTheBin
on America Recycles Day
New Orleans, LA – As a proud national sponsor of America Recycles Day, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) applauds the recycling efforts Americans make every day to help keep their communities beautiful and is recognizing one outstanding individual with a Recycling Champion Award.
America Recycles Day is an initiative of Keep America Beautiful, one of many partner organizations that IBWA works with to help improve recycling rates across the U.S. and globally.
“This year, IBWA has been working with Keep America Beautiful to educate Americans about the importance of recycling—whether at home, at work or on-the-go,” said Jill Culora, IBWA’s vice president of communications.
In addition, IBWA’s #PutItInTheBin campaign partnered with other organizations that share IBWA’s desire to see recycling rates increase to promote pro-recycling images and messages on social media that emphasize the importance of recycling.
“Recyclables have value to reclaimers, and the very simple step of recycling can make a huge impact on the environment,” said Culora.
On America Recycles Day, IBWA honors the individuals and groups that have demonstrated a passion for recycling in their communities by announcing the winner of this year’s IBWA Recycling Champion Award: Ryan Hickman.
At the ripe old age of 7, Ryan is the CEO, manager, and sole employee of Ryan’s Recycling Company. He has 50 customers and more than 200,000 bottles and cans to his recycling credit. What prompted Ryan’s life mission was a visit with his dad to the rePlanet recycling center in California when he was just 3½ years old. Ryan’s individual efforts at such a young age are making an impact in his community through recycling plastic, glass, and aluminum. In fact, Ryan’s community efforts were recognized by his hometown of San Juan Capistrano when it named him the city’s “2017 Citizen of the Year.”
“Ryan’s passion for recycling is inspiring and contagious,” said Culora. “His dedication to his community and work ethic exemplify what it is to be a recycling champion—that’s why IBWA is proud to name him this year’s IBWA Recycling Champion.”
The recipient of IBWA’s Recycling Champion award understands the importance of recycling all materials that are recyclable—whether made from glass, plastic, paper, steel, or aluminum—and have demonstrated outstanding efforts in recycling and creating awareness in their communities.
As the winner of this year’s Recycling Champion award, Ryan will receive an award certificate and $500, sponsored by Primo Water North America
“This is a fantastic sponsorship opportunity for DS Services to highlight a young man that has the rigor and the passion for recycling,” said Mark Campbell, senior vice president revenue officer of DS Services. “We all must to do our part in supporting environmental efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse. Congrats to Ryan!”
While bottled water containers are but one plastic item that recycling facilities accept, the majority of small-package bottled water containers (half-liter/16.9 oz.) are made with the most commonly recycled plastic in the world: PET plastic. More than 2 billion pounds of PET plastic were recycled alone in 2015, according to the National Association of PET Container Resources (NAPCOR).
About the Award Sponsor: Primo Water North America
DS Services is a national direct-to-consumer provider of bottled water, office coffee and water filtration services. DS Services offers a comprehensive portfolio of beverage products, equipment and supplies to approximately 1.5 million customers through its network of over 200 sales and distribution facilities and daily operation of over 2,200 routes. DS Services’ bottled water products are sold under a host of popular brand names including Alhambra®, Athena®, Crystal Rock®, Crystal Springs®, Deep Rock®, Hinckley Springs®, Kentwood Springs®, Mount Olympus®, Nursery®, Sierra Springs®, and Sparkletts®, and Vermont Pure®. DS Services offers brewed beverages under the Standard Coffee®, Cool Beans® and Javarama® brands, as well as other leading national brands. Additionally, DS Services provides water filtration systems, equipment and services under the Relyant® brand. DS Services supports the communities it serves and provides safe drinking water during emergencies and natural disasters. Please visit our website www.water.com for more information.
About IBWA and Recycling
IBWA supports strong community recycling initiatives and recognizes that a continued focus on increased recycling is important for everyone. In addition, bottled water containers are the most common item in curbside recycling programs, recycled at a rate of 53.9 percent. And the industry is always looking for ways to strengthen existing recycling programs and help to expand recycling efforts ever further. However, even when they are not properly recycled, PET plastic bottled water containers make up only 3.3 percent of all drink packaging in U.S. landfills, where as plastic soda containers make up 13.3 percent.
In its efforts to increase recycling rates, IBWA is active in helping improve access to curbside recycling bins through its involvement with Keep America Beautiful and The Recycling Partnership — a national recycling nonprofit organization comprised of industries and municipalities — with a goal of making a measurable impact on recycling in the United States. IBWA is also a member of three regional recycling groups: the Florida Recycling Partnership, the Michigan Recycling Partnership, and the Northeast Recycling Council.
Continual light-weighting of PET bottled water plastic packaging has seen the average weight drop to 9.25 grams per 16.9 ounce single-serve container. That is almost one-third less than the amount of PET it takes to make soda and other drink containers, which need to be thicker due to carbonation and manufacturing processes and weigh, on average, 23.9 grams.
According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, between 2000 and 2014, the average weight of a 16.9 ounce (half-liter) PET plastic bottled water container declined 51 percent. This resulted in a savings of 6.2 billion pounds of PET resin since 2000.
For more information about bottled water see: bottledwater.org
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Interview requests:
Recycling Champion Award Winner Ryan Hickman, email: info@ryansrecycling.com.
Media Contact:
Jill Culora
703-647-4609
jculora@bottledwater.org
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.
