PINETOP-LAKESIDE, Ariz. – America’s beverage companies today announced a $100,000 investment to increase recycling access in rural Arizona, expanding the region’s recycling drop-off site in Pinetop-Lakeside. This project is part of a $300,000 statewide initiative announced last year by American Beverage, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and The Recycling Partnership (TRP) to improve recycling infrastructure and access across rural and tribal communities.

The expanded Pinetop-Lakeside recycling site will serve as a regional hub for more than 131,000 residents across Navajo County – including the communities of Springerville, Eagar, St. Johns, Taylor, Snowflake and Whiteriver, home to the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The grant will create more convenient opportunities for residents to recycle their bottles, cans and other common household materials.

“Expanding recycling access in communities like Pinetop-Lakeside and across Navajo County ensures more Arizonans can recycle their recyclable bottles and cans. This will help keep these valuable materials out of landfills so they can be remade into new products,” said Michael Gardner of the Arizona Beverage Association. “By working hand in hand with Arizona DEQ and local leaders, we’re building stronger recycling systems and helping more communities create a sustainable future for their families.”

The Pinetop-Lakeside project follows last year's opening of a recycling facility in Kingman that was the first project launched under the $300,000 statewide collaboration between America’s beverage companies, the Arizona DEQ and TRP.

Over the next decade, the entire project is projected to create an additional 11.2 million pounds of new recyclables, including approximately 439,000 pounds of PET plastic and 146,000 pounds of aluminum that could otherwise have ended up in landfills or the environment. This helps ensure these materials are collected and remade into new beverage containers or other products. The investment is expected to benefit nearly 18,000 households across the region.

This announcement comes on the heels of another investment last year by America’s beverage companies in Sahuarita, Ariz. These investments are the latest in a series of grants that the companies have made through Every Bottle Back^®—an initiative of The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo launched in 2019. In total, investments across 71 communities have been made to date to yield 730 million new pounds of recycled PET and more than 47 million pounds of recycled aluminum over the next decade.