The Recycling Partnership, a collaborative, industry-funded effort designed to boost residential recycling in the US, has announced its first public grant to the city of Columbia, South Carolina.
The funding will support the Recycling Partnership's national curbside recycling project.
The Recycling Partnership has selected four partner cities, including Columbia, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Florence, Alabama. The fourth city is due to be announced later in 2015.
Technical and financial assistance will be provided in the areas of recycling access, champion building, regional coordination and education and outreach.
Various industry partners such as Amcor, Coca Cola and Alcoa, among others have invested total of $300,000 in the recycling project.
Commenting on the contribution, Amcor Rigid Plastics global sustainability manager Charlie Schwarze said: "The Recycling Partnership provides the initial funding to help communities prioritize recycling among other important municipal projects.
"This investment also serves a dual-purpose within Amcor by enabling us to invest in a community where we operate and also increase the amount of valuable recycled PET material for future conversion."
Columbia is on track to convert its recycling programme from a bin-based to a cart-based collection programme, which will involve distribution of 96-gallon carts, technical assistance, and recycling education/outreach to some 34,000 households.
Columbia's improved recycling efforts are expected to produce a savings of 236 million gallons of water, 1.2 million BTUs of energy, and 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases over the next 10 years.
