This event was founded by ‘Keep America Beautiful’ 13 years ago, and has been celebrated each year on 15 November to remind Americans about the importance of personal recycling and the need for effective community recycling programmes.
Plastic bottled water containers – whether single-serve PET or home and office delivery (HOD) 3- and 5-gallon jugs – are all 100% recyclable. In addition, HOD plastic water jugs are reusable. The bottled water industry has encouraged recycling for many years and taken actions to help improve community curbside recycling programmes.
“Efforts to educate consumers about recycling empty plastic water bottles appear to be having an effect,” said Tom Lauria, vice president of communications at the IBWA. “A 2008 National Association of PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) study (the most recent data available) found recycling rates for bottled water containers at a decade high of 30.9%. That’s a 32% improvement over the previous year, and more than 50% improvement since 2006.”
The industry has made significant inroads in reducing the amount of virgin plastic used to make bottled water containers by lightweighting its packaging. Over the past eight years, the total weight of PET plastic bottled water containers has been reduced by 32%.
Source: IBWA
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