Alcoa Recycling

We’re Making History in Dallas! #AAR12

“This is the very first time that this group has come together in one room,” according to Brenda Pulley, Vice President of Keep America Beautiful and an attendee at Alcoa’s Action to Accelerate Recycling event in Dallas, Texas.  The group of companies, representing more than 70% of the soft drink brands, more than 90% of the glass industry, about 80% of the beer industry, and 100% of the North American can sheet industry, are meeting to carve a path toward higher recycling rates to recover vital secondary raw materials from the waste stream. 

“Our goal is to drive the recycling rate up in the US by 20 points, said Beth Schmitt,” director of recycling programs for Alcoa, the host of the event.  “And we’ll do it- I am confident of that.” Among other strategies, the group is working to drive  a social shift among consumers to make recycling the norm, rather than the exception.

Follow the event at #AAR12

Leaders from Packaging Supply Chain Kick Off Recycling Summit in Dallas! #AAR12

Image: Alcoa Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Kevin Anton, leads an ideation session with leaders from the packaging supply chain.  

More than 90 industry leaders, representing nearly all of the packaging and beverage industries in the U.S. gathered today in Dallas, TX to kick off the Action to Accelerate Recycling Summit, sponsored by Alcoa. Energized and experienced leaders from government, industry and non-governmental organizations began to tackle the issue of how to voluntarily drive recycling rates up by 20 percentage points in the next three years.

"The collective knowledge, experience, and passion for driving recycling rates higher is energizing," said Beth Schmitt, director of recycling programs for Alcoa.  "There's a sense of momentum that's developing here. The companies here know that increasing recycling is not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do for our shareholders."

The summit concludes on February 9, with a call to launch an industry-driven program to drive higher recycling rates rapidly to meet demand for recycled content.

Alcoa to Lead Action to Accelerate Recycling Summit #AAR12

DALLAS, TX – Alcoa has convened some 90 leaders in sustainability, packaging leadership, and recycling in Dallas, Texas for an Action to Accelerate Recycling (AAR) Summit to foster innovation and collaboration to drive higher rates for packaging recycling.  Leaders of most of the soft drink and beer industry, packaging manufacturers,  thought leaders on creating social change among consumers, and recycling industry experts will participate in a unique facilitated “System in the Room” event to speed up progress to attain higher recycling rates in the U.S.

“This is not just another conference on recycling,” said Beth Schmitt, director of recycling programs for Alcoa, the largest global aluminum company and one of the largest can recyclers in the world.  “This summit is designed to ignite real change, driven by industry, to achieve one thing:  dramatically higher recycling rates. We want to close the loop on aluminum can recycling in the U.S.”

Be on the lookout for updates here, on facebook and via Twitter (@Alcoa) during the AAR Summit (#AAR12), February 8 and 9, in Dallas, TX. 

Happy Earth Day 2011

Happy Earth Day everyone. While great progress is being made to elevate the importance of recycling, there are still 575,000 tons of valuable aluminum going into the U.S. waste stream in the form of used beverage cans. To help spread the word how recycling aluminum can save energy, natural resources and CO2 emissions, download our newest set of fact sheets and share them. These can be used with school or community groups to explain about how important it is to keep those aluminum cans out of the waste stream! Check them out below!



Big news on the E-Waste Frontier

Alcoa made a serious commitment to sustainability in the consumer electronics space this week by becoming an enterprise member of  the Basel Action Network’s e-Stewards Certification Program, and by investing $10 million in Electronics Recyclers International, the largest E-Waste recycler in the United States. 

Consumer electronics are becoming more “aluminized,” i.e., the industry is incorporating more aluminum into product design to help with heat dissipation, to make products lighter in weight, more durable, and – let’s face it – to make CE products look more cool.  Aluminum is becoming an increasing part of the next wave of CE products, like the MacBook Pro™, the Amazon Kindle™ and the Nokia N8™ mobile device…

But at the same time, product life cycles are shortening…meaning an increase in e-waste and an opportunity for leadership.  The minority stake in ERI will enable Alcoa to bring its expertise in recycling to the growing challenge of e-waste, enhancing the role the aluminum industry plays in making electronics more sustainable. 

Alcoa and ERI have already partnered on the successful “AluminateTM” iPhone App enabling consumers to find the most convenient locations to recycle near them.  This investment broadens the Alcoa/ERI relationship in a big way. 

Want to read more?  Jump to this link to see what GreenBiz had to say:

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/03/02/alcoa-enters-e-waste-business-eri-partnership