Your turn: Illinois Beverage Association is proud to be helping Rockford recycle

The city of Rockford is known as the City of Gardens, thanks to its vast green spaces and tree-lined riverside trail.

We’re proud of Rockford’s beautiful natural landscapes and public gardens that bring visitors from near and far. No one wants to see our parks and trails littered with packaging that can and should be recycled.

The simplest way to prevent valuable, recyclable materials from ending up in nature or wasted in landfills is to create accessible, effective systems for recycling.

Illinois’ recycling rate is currently below the national average, yet we know our state is anything but average. That’s why we are joining with city leaders to take bold steps to improve recycling infrastructure.

Soon, households in Rockford will benefit from an investment to boost our community’s recycling rates, reduce waste and decrease the use of new plastic.

The Illinois Beverage Association is proud to partner with leaders in Rockford on the effort as part of the beverage industry’s Every Bottle Back initiative.

Launched in 2019 by The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo in partnership with sustainability leaders The Recycling Partnership, Closed Loop Partners and the World Wildlife Fund, Every Bottle Back investments provide communities with more efficient and effective recycling through investments in infrastructure and education so we can get more of our 100% recyclable plastic bottles and cans back to be remade, as intended.

Currently, residents have 32-gallon recycling bins, which do not have wheels and can fill up quickly.

As a result of a grant from The Recycling Partnership and the beverage industry, this new investment will deliver standardized 64-gallon recycling carts with wheels, allowing households to recycle more materials in a more convenient manner. And for even more capacity, the community is also investing in 96-gallon trash carts.

This investment is accomplishing more than just upgrading carts.

Part of our collaboration includes direct to resident educational outreach to help people recycle better. Raising awareness of good recycling habits will maximize benefits and drive recycling rates higher.

Over the next 10 years, this investment is projected to yield more than 46 million pounds of recyclables, including more than 1.8 million pounds of recycled PET plastic, the most recyclable and recycled plastic in the USA that is used to make beverage bottles.

Rockford's Every Bottle Back investment is the latest in a series of commitments from the Illinois Beverage Association to improve recycling.

Similar investments have been made recently in LaSalle, Villa Park and Chicago, all part of the beverage industry’s broader commitment to driving solutions for the environment.

The Illinois Beverage Association takes pride in supporting innovative Every Bottle Back investments. Together, we can create a better and more sustainable future.

Maddy Norris is the executive director of the Illinois Beverage Association.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Illinois Beverage Association is helping Rockford recycle