Nation's Capital is First City to Partner with PepsiCo Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, Quadrupling Recycling Bins in Downtown D.C.

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) today announced a partnership with the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) and the District Department of Public Works (DPW) that will make Washington, D.C. the nation's first city to partner with the Dream Machine recycling initiative. A total of 363 recycling bins will be placed throughout the DowntownDC BID area, offering a convenient and rewarding recycling option for people while they are on-the-go and advancing the BID's Greening Downtown DC initiative.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110301/NY56674)

PepsiCo's Dream Machine recycling initiative, which aims to place both interactive kiosks and bins, was created in partnership with Waste Management (NYSE: WM) and Keep America Beautiful.

With approximately 1,500 Dream Machines located in more than 20 states to date, the program aims to increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate from 34 to 50 percent by 2018.

"This latest public-private partnership achieves the BID goal of providing citywide approaches to environmental issues while enhancing the quality of the visitor experience Downtown," said Richard H. Bradley, executive director of the DowntownDC BID.  "This partnership will have real results. We are projecting a diversion of more than one million pounds of recyclable material annually from Downtown waste."

"I am happy to welcome PepsiCo to the partnership between DPW and the DowntownDC BID," said DPW Director, William O. Howland, Jr. "By contributing more than 300 new recycling cans, PepsiCo gives us a tremendous boost toward reaching our 45 percent diversion rate goal."

The DowntownDC BID's Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance workers, known as SAMs, will be responsible for maintaining the bins and serving as on-the-street liaisons who educate people about public recycling and the Dream Machine program.

Jeremy Cage, senior vice president of Innovation and Insights at PepsiCo and head of the Dream Machine recycling initiative, commented, "We are thrilled that our nation's capital is the first city to offer the Dream Machine program to its community. With collaborative partnerships like this one, we are confident that we can help provoke behavioral change by making recycling more convenient, and we encourage others to join us as we strive to make positive change for our planet."

For all the bottles and cans recycled in a Dream Machine bin or kiosk in Washington, D.C., and across the nation, PepsiCo will make a contribution 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 U.S. veterans with disabilities.

"The unemployment rate among young veterans today is 20 percent—its highest rate in the post-9/11 era," said J. Michael Haynie, EBV founder and assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management. "Bringing the Dream Machine program to Washington, D.C. represents an opportunity for the city and its residents to play a direct role in helping our returning veterans create their own jobs in the most American way possible, through entrepreneurship."

To learn more about the Dream Machine program, visit www.facebook.com/DreamMachine. To download an image of the Dream Machine bin, visit www.multimedia.pepsico.com.

About the Dream Machine

The Dream Machine recycling initiative, introduced on Earth Day 2010, will make thousands of new recycling kiosks and bins available in popular public venues such as gas stations, stadiums, and public parks. Dream Machine kiosks are computerized receptacles that include a personal reward system that allows consumers to collect and redeem points for each bottle or can they recycle in the kiosk. The multi-year collaboration 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 WM 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.

About the DowntownDC Business Improvement District

Vibrant, inviting and smart, Downtown DC is Washington's premier destination for exploring, creating and sharing ideas and experiences. The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) is a private non-profit organization that provides capital improvements, resources and research to help diversify the economy and enhance the Downtown experience for all. This special district, where property owners have agreed to tax themselves to fund services, encompasses a 138-block area of approximately 825 properties from Massachusetts Avenue on the north to Constitution Avenue on the south, and from Louisiana Avenue on the east to 16th Street on the west. As a catalyst, facilitator and thought leader, the Downtown BID promotes public/private partnerships to create a remarkable urban environment. For more information, visit www.DowntownDC.org.

About Department of Public Works

The Department of Public Works collects recyclable materials weekly from 105,000 single-family homes and buildings with up to three dwelling units.  To make it easier for residents to recycle, DPW offers “single stream” recycling, allowing all recycled items to be mixed together in one container. In FY 2010, DPW collected more than 29,000 tons of recyclable materials.  Currently, the District’s diversion rate is 22 percent of the waste stream.  The goal is to reach 45 percent of waste stream.  Go to www.dpw.dc.gov for a list of recyclable materials and visit collectionday.dcgis.dc.gov for your street’s recycling schedule.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generate 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 approximately $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.

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 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 EBV

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