PepsiCo Supports Beverage Container Recycling with Launch of 2011/2012 Dream Machine Recycle Rally™

PURCHASE, N.Y., Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) announced today the official start of the Dream Machine Recycle Rally for the 2011/2012 school year. The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is a national program that aims to raise awareness of the importance of recycling among students, grades K-12, and gives participating schools a chance to earn rewards and compete for prizes.

Download related high-resolution images and videos, and read a blog post announcing the launch of the 2011/2012 Dream Machine Recycle Rally, available at http://livingthepromise.pepsicoblogs.com/.

The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is part of the broader Dream Machine recycling initiative – a multi-year collaboration between PepsiCo, Waste Management and Keep America Beautiful, that utilizes www.greenopolis.com. Through the Dream Machine recycling initiative, PepsiCo aims to create strategic partnerships to help increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018 by providing greater on-the-go access to recycling receptacles.

Schools participating in the Dream Machine Recycle Rally earn points for every non-alcoholic aluminum can or plastic bottle collected through the program year-round, and schools can redeem those points with local businesses and major retailers for rewards such as sporting goods, electronics, gift cards, educational events, and music, books and videos. During the contest period, which runs from August 1, 2011 through April 30, 2012, participating schools may also be eligible to win one of more than seventy-five contest prizes, such as the $50,000 Dream Green School Makeover grand prize. For complete contest rules, please visit www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com/about-rally/rules.html.

"Since the Dream Machine Recycle Rally launched in December 2010, more than 200,000 students have participated and recycled over five million bottles and cans," said Anna Palazij, Dream Machine Recycle Rally program manager. "We are thrilled to continue the program this school year and eager to help youth learn about the personal and environmental impact they can make, just by recycling."

For all the bottles and cans recycled through the program – the broader Dream Machine program and the Dream Machine Recycle Rally – PepsiCo will provide support to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, a national program offering free education in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities, so that our nation's heroes can make their own dreams come true.

Once individual schools sign-up to participate and are accepted into the Dream Machine Recycle Rally program, the school receives – free of charge – a laptop and either a scanner, or a scale and scanner, to be used to tally can and bottle collections and manage point redemptions.  Waste Management coordinates the pickup and processing of the recyclables.  Currently, more than 500 schools in over 30 states are participating in the Dream Machine Recycle Rally program.

"Dream Machine Recycle Rally made a big splash last year and we look forward to doing our part to make its second year even better," said Paul Ligon, managing director of Greenopolis, a Waste Management subsidiary. "With technology developed by Greenopolis, the Recycle Rally program is able to track, reward, and inform school recycling efforts—which results in a big win for schools and the environment."

During last year's contest, St. Pascal School in Chicago, Ill. was the official winner of the Dream Machine Recycle Rally Dream Green School Makeover grand prize to be used toward green improvements at the school.  With the help of students, faculty, parents and community volunteers, St. Pascal School recycled an average of approximately 2,286 beverage containers per student, the equivalent of 114 pounds of containers per student.

The Dream Machine Recycle Rally and the Dream Machine recycling initiative are aligned with PepsiCo's global environmental goals and commitments, among them to increase the national beverage container recycling rate, reduce packaging waste, and use rPET and renewable sources in packaging. Specific examples of PepsiCo innovations with respect to beverage packaging include:

• The development of the world's first 100 percent plant-based, PET plastic bottle.

• The Naked Juice reNEWabottle™ made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

• The Aquafina Eco-Fina bottle, the lightest bottle of its size among U.S. bottled water brands.

• Offering eco-friendly recyclable and compostable cups to Foodservice customers in the United States.

To learn more about the Dream Machine Recycle Rally or to apply, visit www.DreamMachineRecycleRally.com.

About the Dream Machine Recycle Rally and Dream Machine Recycling Initiative

The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is a nationwide school recycling program designed to raise awareness among students, grades K-12, about the importance of recycling and encourage them to make recycling part of their everyday lives. The Dream Machine Recycle Rally is part of the broader Dream Machine recycling initiative – a multi-year collaboration between PepsiCo, Waste Management and Keep America Beautiful, that utilizes www.greenopolis.com. Through the Dream Machine recycling initiative, PepsiCo aims to create strategic partnerships to help increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018. The Dream Machine program is aligned with PepsiCo's global environmental goals and commitments, and will make thousands of new recycling kiosks and bins available in popular public venues such as gas stations, stadiums, and public parks. For all the bottles and cans recycled through the Dream Machine recycling initiative, PepsiCo will provide support to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, a national program offering free education in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Our main businesses -- Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola -- also make hundreds of other enjoyable and wholesome foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world. With net revenues of approximately $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment, including by conserving energy and water usage, and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support, and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

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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 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, University of Connecticut and Louisiana State University. The training is provided at no cost to qualified and accepted veterans.

Media Contact:

Lindsay Bell
Dream Machine Communications
Office: 212-593-6381
Mobile: 207-712-1661
[email protected]

SOURCE PepsiCo