Keep America Beautiful Celebrates 2019 America Recycles Day; Collaboration is Key to Future of U.S. Recycling System

STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A week of national recycling initiatives demonstrating the collaborative effort of government, industry, and nonprofit sectors to address the challenges in the United States recycling system, concludes today – America Recycles Day^®, a Keep America Beautiful^® program, with the 2019 America Recycles Summit.

Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Helen Lowman is among the guest speakers at the second U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Summit, which begins at 10:10 a.m. EST and is live-streamed at www.epa.gov/live.

"Innovation and partnership will be critical as we seek solutions that can improve our recycling infrastructure and processes, as well as the development of new products comprised of post-recycled content that consumers want to purchase," said Lowman. "Based on what we've been seeing during America Recycles Week and today on America Recycles Day, it's clear that Americans and American organizations are stepping up to the task and addressing this challenge head on with American ingenuity."

On Nov. 11, Veterans Day, Keep America Beautiful and EPA participated in a ceremony at Fort Bliss to recognize the Fort Bliss Recycling Heroes for their commitment to recycling. The America Recycles Innovation Fair on Nov. 14 showcased recent advances in recycling technology, product development and materials usage.

As it has under Republican and Democratic Presidents throughout the history of America Recycles Day, The White House Office, through the Office of the Press Secretary, issued a formal statement to recognize the economic and environmental impact of recycling.

The week of recycling initiatives will continue beyond America Recycles Day as local organizations, including the Keep America Beautiful national network of more than 600 community-based affiliates, governmental institutions, schools, businesses, faith-based organizations and other community partners, schedule educational workshops and recycling collection events.

By educating and engaging individuals to recycle more of the right things the right way – at home, at work and on the go, Keep America Beautiful can help make recycling more economically viable, while continuing to reap greater environmental and community benefits. Recycling Success Stories from Keep America Beautiful community-based affiliates – I Love A Clean San Diego, Keep Phoenix Beautiful, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, and Keep Brunswick County Beautiful – demonstrate how our community-based affiliates are leading the charge at the local level.

On America Recycles Day and throughout the year, Keep America Beautiful urges people to pledge to reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle in every aspect of their life by taking the #BeRecycled Pledge today. The #BeRecycled Pledge is a promise to actively choose to:

• Recycle at home, work/school and on the go;
• Buy products made with recycled content; and
• Educate and encourage friends, family and neighbors to take the #BeRecycled Pledge.

Sponsors of this year's America Recycles Day include Title Sponsor Cox Enterprises, as well as American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Coors Light, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), Macerich, Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Northrop Grumman Corporation, The Recycling Partnership (TRP) and Waste Management.

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, the nation's iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America's Communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision. 

Behavior change – steeped in education, research and behavioral science – is the cornerstone of Keep America Beautiful. We empower generations of community and environmental stewards with volunteer programs, hands-on experiences, educational curricula, practical advice and other resources. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the collaborative support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.

Contacts
Randy Hartmann / Larry Kaufman
Tel: 203.659.3022 / 203.659.3014
Email: rhartmann@kab.org / lkaufman@kab.org  
Website: americarecyclesday.org / kab.org

SOURCE Keep America Beautiful