The Recycling Partnership, a U.S. national nonprofit committed to improving curbside residential recycling, has welcomed Target Corporation, its first retail company member. With the addition of Target, members of The Recycling Partnership now represent the entire recycling system for consumer packaging, including manufacturers, brands, retailers, and the recycling industry. This means that members of every sector have committed to working together to make recycling stronger and recover more materials for manufacturing.
“Target joining signals a new era for our organization, as we are officially supported by the whole system,” says Keefe Harrison, Executive Director of The Recycling Partnership. “More than that, Target brings specific expertise in meeting the needs of the many guests to their stores, and through our work together that insight will translate into better recycling programs for more consumers across the country.”
The most successful recycling programs are convenient, enjoy high participation, and produce quality recyclable materials. However, budget constraints and other barriers prevent many communities from realizing that highest standard. Using private funding from companies like Target, The Recycling Partnership brings grants, tools and specialized marketing and operations expertise to help underperforming programs transform into top performers.
There is plenty of opportunity to help communities advance curbside recycling. In the recent Sustainable Packaging Coalition access study, only 53 percent of the U.S. population receive recycling as a standard service, and even fewer have cart-based programs. Target's investment will help extend curbside recycling to under-served communities, a proven method for increasing recycling and making more recycled raw materials available for packaging.
“We are thrilled to partner with The Recycling Partnership to help make recycling an easy, accessible and seamless experience for our guests and communities,” says Jennifer Silberman, Vice President of Sustainability & Wellness at Target. “At Target, sustainability is a principle that drives the decisions we make across the company to continuously improve the guest experience, and this partnership helps further our commitment to create long-term systemic changes in our communities.”
Since the start of 2015, The Recycling Partnership has helped catalyze $21 million of new recycling infrastructure through grants and on the ground technical support, positively impacting more than two million households. Over the coming months, The Partnership expects to complete placement of more than 300,000 additional carts. Further, the national group has recently released free online open source tools and resources, which have already been downloaded by communities representing nearly 10 million households.
“At The Recycling Partnership, we believe that every community deserves a great recycling program, and the economic and environmental benefits that such programs bring,” says Harrison. “Together with Target, we will help underserved communities get the support they need to thrive.”
