Dream Machine Challenges Americans to Commit to Recycle Cans and Bottles From Summertime Cookouts to Support U.S. Veterans

PURCHASE, N.Y., June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) today announced the Dream Machine Summer Recycling Challenge, a national call-to-action asking Americans to commit to recycle every can and bottle at summertime cookouts, starting with Independence Day.  The more Americans recycle in Dream Machines, the more support PepsiCo will provide to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering free, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities.  

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"There are few better times to thank the men and women of the United States armed forces for their sacrifice and service than Independence Day.  We are proud that through the Dream Machine initiative, PepsiCo will help many of our veterans receive valuable job training," said Jeremy Cage, PepsiCo's head of the Dream Machine initiative.  "We kicked off the Dream Machine recycling initiative on Earth Day and we are delighted that so many partners are making – or considering making – the bins available at their locations in cities and towns across the country."

PepsiCo's Dream Machine recycling initiative, created in partnership with Waste Management, was developed to support PepsiCo's goal of increasing the U.S. beverage container recycling rate from 34 percent to 50 percent by 2018.  According to research conducted by Keep America Beautiful, only 12 percent of public spaces are equipped with recycling receptacles, highlighting the clear need for greater public access to recycling bins.  Since the Dream Machine launch on Earth Day 2010, PepsiCo has formed partnerships that will make the kiosks available in a number of highly trafficked public locations across the U.S., including:

• More than 150 Rite Aid stores across North Carolina
• Several locations in Oklahoma, including Reasor's grocery stores, Oral Roberts University and OneOK Field, home to Minor League Baseball's Tulsa Drillers, in Tulsa
• Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays
• Pennsylvania's Pocono Raceway, one of NASCAR's most competitive speedways
• Various locations across southern California, including California State Polytechnic University Pomona

North Carolina has been an early adopter of the program, providing access to the greatest concentration of Dream Machines in the country, to date.

"With the need to create green jobs and recover valuable materials, North Carolina has dedicated itself to driving innovative recycling programs," said Scott Mouw, Chief of Community and Business Assistance, North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance. "The Dream Machine initiative provides a terrific way to make it more convenient for people to recycle on-the-go and an appealing rewards program to incentivize them."

Actress, comedian and author, Aisha Tyler, is lending her voice and talent to the cause with the debut of her new cinematic video short, COMMITTED. As writer, director and star of this exciting film, Aisha is hoping to get other Americans as fired up about recycling as she is. 

"Recycling has become the green equivalent of flossing your teeth - we all know we should do it, but it takes extra commitment and follow-through, so we tend to avoid it when it's inconvenient," said Tyler. "I joined the Dream Machine initiative because it has a great message: recycling can be good for you, the environment and our nation's heroes."

To learn more about the Dream Machine, please visit www.facebook.com/DreamMachine.  

About the Dream Machine

The Dream Machine recycling initiative, introduced on Earth Day 2010, will make thousands of new recycling kiosks available in popular public venues such as gas stations, stadiums, and public parks.  The multi-year partnership with Waste Management enables the local capture and recycling of PET and aluminum, using both technology enabled and non-technology enabled recycling kiosks. The Dream Machines are provided by GreenOps, LLC, a subsidiary of Waste Management, and operated by Greenopolis, the first interactive recycling system that brings together online and on-street technologies.  People who recycle their beverage containers in kiosks can redeem points they collect and receive awards when they visit www.greenopolis.com.

PepsiCo has also partnered with Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) to encourage community involvement and maximize Dream Machine availability by engaging nearly 600 local KAB affiliate organizations in communities nationwide. Through this partnership, PepsiCo and KAB aim to make more than 5,000 traditional recycling bins available.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. In recognition of its continued sustainability efforts, PepsiCo was named for the third time to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and for the fourth time to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North America) in 2009. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America.

About Greenopolis

Greenopolis LLC, is a subsidiary of Waste Management. Greenopolis.com is the first interactive community that connects the online conversation about recycling and resource management with opportunities to track the products that consumers use and recycle through recycling kiosks located in public venues and other on the go locations. Through Greenopolis, environmentally responsible individuals can earn rewards for recycling and resource-conscious companies can better understand the lifecycle of their products.  "Rethink. Recycle. Reward. Closing the Loop Together." For more information: www.greenopolis.com.

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,200 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that prevent litter, reduce waste, increase recycling, and create greener public spaces. To learn more, visit www.kab.org.

About The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) is a program first created by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, designed to provide training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their military service. The mission of the EBV is to open the door to business ownership for our veterans, by developing skills that relate to the many steps associated with launching and growing a small business.  Today the EBV is offered by a network of world-class business schools across the U.S., that includes Syracuse University, Texas A&M University, Florida State University, UCLA, Purdue University, and the University of Connecticut. The training is provided at no cost to eligible veterans.  

SOURCE PepsiCo