48 responses to “Recycling and you”

1. 

   Lars Ahlen April 27th, 2010 at 06:25

   It is funny. My sister lives in Fishers, In. In their city you have to pay an extra fee to have recycle pickup. Because of this extra fee everything in her house gets trashed. Same goes for all of her neighbors. That adds up to a lot of beer bottles and coke cans. With cities charging people to recycle, people are not going to do it. What PepsiCo plans to do would take the inconvenience factor out of the equation for public places. That is a great move.

2. 

   Letteer Lewis April 27th, 2010 at 07:00

   ^^Agreed completely, it’s about time someone stepped up to the plate, never thought it would be a company like PepsiCo, but I think that with this move, it may push other companies to step up and be responsible!

3. 

   Jack Kennedy April 27th, 2010 at 07:14

   In Michigan you have to pay a 10c fee up front for every can you buy, and you only get it back when you take it to a recycling center. They all recycle cans, maybe Indiana should adopt this model.

4. 

   Zach Morgan April 27th, 2010 at 07:24

   It has really be impressive to see PepsiCo this past couple of years. I have especially enjoyed there campaign to give millions of dollars to projects that people feel passionate about improving. Though recycling can be a difficult task to start, I can see the benefits of recycling as well as a few other socially responsible initiatives. I think what makes me look at it closer are the staggering numbers of waste. I think the biggest thing is to create awareness and a more efficient way of actually recycling to prove the benefits.

5. 

   Dan Wyss April 27th, 2010 at 09:10

   I agree that it is really overdue that someone does something like this. It’s so simple and it makes sense. Those numbers are rediculous so we really should do something to help ourselves out.

6. 

   Austin collins April 27th, 2010 at 09:19

   Ya recycling is a big deal in some areas but their are still so many places that to encourage recycling as much as they should. I think that this is a good idea and will help people make recycling a habit. This would be a good money maker if you were able to liter the boxes with advertising.

7. 

   Spencer Abrams April 27th, 2010 at 09:25

   I’m a big proponent of throwing away everything. If everyone started recycling, what would happen to the garbage and landfill industry?

8. 

   Alexandra Graves April 27th, 2010 at 09:26

   I think this is a great idea. It will help the world while also promoting themselves and giving their company a good reputation. The US has started its green movement and to be apart of it makes you stand out as something good; whether that be a good company or just a good person. Its a wonderful idea that will definitely help to improve our planet.

9. 

   Loïc mazet April 27th, 2010 at 09:32

   Good Job PepsiCo!!

10. 

    Blake Bronowicki April 27th, 2010 at 09:53

    Wow, this is very surprising to me that you have to pay extra fees for the recycling to get picked up in this particular area. Encouraging recycling and making awareness for it has been an ongoing process that has reached out to many people. If everyone in fact does recycle, it will make a big difference in our environment.

11. 

    Craig Hasbargen April 27th, 2010 at 09:54

    It is good to hear that PepsiCo is taking the initiative to do that. PepsiCo is always ahead of the game when dealing with the environment. By taking this initiative they are showing they care about the environment and they are also getting their name out into the public at the same time.

    There needs to be a company to recycle electronics and chargers that is readily available such as this campaign.

12. 

    Spencer Childers April 27th, 2010 at 09:57

    i think it would be good if people got a break on their taxes based on how much recycling they did during the year… it would be hard to implement but i think it would encourage people to recycle more.

13. 

    Justin de la Chi(cago) April 27th, 2010 at 10:05

    I will say more later.

    J

14. 

    Molly Longest April 27th, 2010 at 10:19

    This is great of Pepsi Co. to help and encourage recycling. It makes sense when their products are causing much of this pollution. They are taking an initiative and hopefully other companies will follow. I think one thing the state of Indiana could do to help reduce this problem is make recycling free and charge for garbage. Maybe people will think twice about what they’re throwing away.

15. 

    Andrew Huff April 27th, 2010 at 10:57

    Recycling is a great idea… in concept. However in reality its not doing very much and in many ways its using more energy than it saves. In my home community we recycle everything, paper, plastic, glass etc. Our recycling bins are the same size as our trash bins and they are used heavily. However upon a closer inspection of the system the majority of the material recycled makes its way to our land fills.

    Why is this you might ask. Well the idea behind recycling is that companies will buy this used sorted raw material to make new products because of its cheap cost there in reducing the amount of new raw material needed. The problem is that companies are NOT buying this material. So the recycled material that is trucked to a sorting facility, sorted (using lots of energy and money), and sits in the warehouse (or outside depending on the material) is not used.

    After several weeks the unused sorted material (the majority of the material brought in) is loaded into trucks and hauled to the landfill. What a waste of energy and money!

    No one wants the stuff. It costing tax payers extra money to no end and is having extremely little impact on our waste problem.

    How do I know this you might ask. Well my father is very active in my local government and has discussed this issues with officials running the recycling initiatives.

    Again I am not condemning the idea of recycling, I think its a great idea. But people need to see that its costing more energy than its saving. It makes neither environmental or economic sense.

16. 

    Michael Evans April 27th, 2010 at 10:58

    Good for Pepsi. And I’m with Lars on this: you need to make it more convenient for people to recycle, not less. So this is a great, convenient way to encourage people to dispose of their bottle properly.

17. 

    Andrew Huff April 27th, 2010 at 11:01

    On a side note –

    The best way to help the waste problem is to reduce use. Producing less waste is the answer. Purchase products that do not have excessive packaging. Do not purchase individually wrapped food items like those 50 packs of small bags of potato chips, etc.

18. 

    Craig Seager, BSME PU '90 April 27th, 2010 at 11:48

    On the outside chance that anyone comes back and reads these comments, allow me to inject an “outside” perspective.
    There are three “R’s” to solving the problem: Reduce (as Mr. Huff has previously stated), Reuse, and then Recycle. Reduce what you have that ends up in the landfill. Reuse what you can (like those aluminum pie tins, they make great containers to barbecue shrimp. Wash them with as little water as possible (reduce) and then reuse them). Finally, we get to Recycle. And yes, like always, there must be a market (need) for these materials.
    My question, to all you young and upcoming entrepreneurs, is how do you take what PepsiCo is doing and use that to your advantage?

19. 

    Jeff Olen April 27th, 2010 at 11:52

    It’s really good to see that Pepsi is doing something like this to really encourage recycling. They are not doing it for the competition, but to make this a better planet to live on. I think that recycling is easy and that a lot of people should do this. Having recycling bins on streets in cities and other things of that sort will really promote the action of recycling. We are officially a go green earth.

20. 

    Arpit Bawa April 27th, 2010 at 12:28

    Recycling is a great idea and it is a pity that we do not encourage it more here. In 2009 summer I visited Tokyo. We had rented a house and the first thing that the housekeeper gave us, after the welcome basket, was the Recycle Rules for that area. We had to spend two hours reading and understanding the ‘Recycle Journal’! In Japan they do a wonderful job of recycling and maintaining strict standards for the same. They have 6 different categories of waste and a dozen different ways to dispose them, at least in the are where we had rented a house for summer.

21. 

    Jaideep Singh April 27th, 2010 at 13:24

    I think recycling starts at the time of product design. If the designer uses aluminum and other recyclable stuff instead of PVC and other non-recyclable stuff; that is real sustainable recycling.

22. 

    Casey Piquette April 27th, 2010 at 13:50

    This past summer, I worked on a project in Latvia called Tomorrows Steps which was about educating the youth in Latvia about the environment. This was one of the major concerns that we presented. I worked with interns from Singapore, India, Moldova and Croatia. We all shared different things that we did in our own countries for recycling.

    An interesting idea that they do in Singapore is making recycling attractive and fun. Instead of having plain boring recycle bins, they have large bins that are designed to look like the product that is being recycled. There are competitions among districts about who can fill their bins faster too.

    Also I am from Michigan. For us, we pay deposit on bottles initially when we buy them, but then we can return them at any grocery store for 10 cents. This is such a great an easy idea! It acts as an incentive for people to return bottles. It can also benefit the community. For instance, when I was on the high school dance team, we would have bottle drives and go around neighborhoods collecting people empty bottles. Then we could return them and get the cash.

    I really never understood why all states don’t do this. It provides a huge incentive to recycle and its cool to get some extra cash every month after saving up your empty bottles.

23. 

    Damon Ward April 27th, 2010 at 13:56

    I really like what Pepsi is doing here. Recycling is much more prominent in the Purdue community than it is in my small community back home, even though it has a lot of room for improvement. I think that if other big companies follow Pepsi’s lead, recycling can become more of a factor in the larger communities as well as the smaller ones, ending up in a better world for everyone. Now, if only it were as easy as typing it out…

24. 

    Amanda Edmondson April 27th, 2010 at 14:47

    Everyone talks about “going green” and wanting to make our world a cleaner place, but usually it’s just that–talk. It’s nice to see PepsiCo is stepping up to the challenge by promoting recycling. They are making it easy for consumers and giving them no reason NOT to recycle. All it takes is a conscious effort to separate plastics, aluminum, etc. Hopefully now that Pepsi is setting an example, the rest of the world will follow.

25. 

    Taylor Gelsosomo April 27th, 2010 at 15:51

    I think company’s that do things like this benefit a lot from it. People will see that Pepsico is actually taking action and notice the brand name in even more places than before!

26. 

    Ravi Mody April 27th, 2010 at 15:52

    This sounds like a great idea. People usually throw away everything, but if they were to see recycle bins I’m sure more people will recycle more. And I definitely think it is ridiculous to be charged extra to take recycling.

27. 

    Michael Tym April 27th, 2010 at 16:05

    What Pepsi is doing is really a great step forward. I hope it leads to other communities stepping up and getting more involved in recycling. I know my apartment has no recycling and because of this many beer cans and bottles go to the dump.

28. 

    Colleen Cahill April 27th, 2010 at 16:07

    First of all, good for you Hank, very impressive.
    I completely agree, pier pressure is the strongest motivation to get people to do things that are considered socially correct. Hopefully, some entrepreneur will come up with a idea that uses this pier pressure for good to make the public recycle.

29. 

    gregg ritchie April 27th, 2010 at 16:09

    I think that PepsiCo is coming up with a great idea when it comes to recycling. This is especially true in today’s “go green” era. I think that the more environmentally conscious a company is the more successful they will be in today’s market.

30. 

    Justin Riley April 27th, 2010 at 16:49

    Its about time someone stepped up and did this! Go Pepsi Co! I know that I would recycle more if there were more recycling kiosks around and I have never seen one at a concert or big event really so its good that someone is finally doing it so maybe more people will actually start recycling.

31. 

    Lars Ahlen April 27th, 2010 at 17:08

    The Michigan tax on cans seems to be a great idea. It would encourage people to bring their cans back to get money back. Great idea when you look at it. Also that knocks out the need to have pickup, which would come out of tax money anyways.

32. 

    gregg ritchie April 27th, 2010 at 18:03

    I think that this is great of Pepsi too because there are so many people at concerts and having convenient recycle bins around would make it so much easier for people to just drop their cans in them instead of throwing them on the ground. Also, I think another way to get people to recycle more is to increase the pay out on recycled cans. I know that in California it is 5 cents per can and in most states in the rest of the company it is only a penny. seeing that people always want more money even having a standard for the price of cans throughout the country would make many more people recycle.

33. 

    Cortez Smith April 27th, 2010 at 18:14

    This is a great idea, recycling is a big help towards our eceonmy which is something we seriously need. I thank PepsiCo. for coming up with this idea to help bring down the number that are extremely out of hand.

34. 

    Matt Kompara April 27th, 2010 at 18:47

    Having to pay for garbage and not recycling would really help out the cause, but isn’t it already like that in some rural areas? In other places garbage is a monthly fee where the amount that fits in the can comes at one price… in most cases bottles fit right in. I know one time i took a truck load of cans in to recycle after a party and they only gave me like 20 bucks; it wasn’t worth the effort.

35. 

    Matt Kompara April 27th, 2010 at 18:48

    Charging the deposit for cans will really get all large scale contributors on board of recycling… the ones who were previously doing most of the polluting.

36. 

    Curtis Brackett April 27th, 2010 at 19:11

    It’s nice to see that large companies like Pepsi are recognizing that the out amount of waste we produce today is becoming a real issue and are attempting to do their part to correct or solve it. With extra pick up charges often associated with recycling it keeps many people that otherwise would recycle from doing so. Pepsi’s plan to place recycling in commonly frequented areas will dramatically increase the convenience for recyclers thus increasing the amount of waste being recycled.

37. 

    Colby Beacham April 27th, 2010 at 19:16

    Though I may just be repeating what everyone else is saying I am from Michigan as well, and their 10c bottle returns do an amazing job with recycling glass bottles, plastic bottles or aluminum cans, most of the time people just bring their cans to the grocery store throw them into a big machine and then use their receipt to buy a part of their groceries for the week, couldn’t be easier.

38. 

    keegan Klauke April 27th, 2010 at 22:08

    NO Trash Pick Up????? dang that i can not imagine. It looks like growing your own vegetables would be a good investment then too.

39. 

    Andrew Barr April 27th, 2010 at 22:56

    I think that PepsiCo is doing a good thing here. If people won’t take the initiative to recycle in their homes then at least this way they will be able to recycle outside of their homes more easily. I was president of recycling club in high school and we would recycle a ton of paper each week. I don’t recycle at home, but whenever there is a can for recycling next to a regular trash can I always use it. It takes all of the effort out of recycling. PepsiCo will definitely make a huge impact on how often people like me recycle.

40. 

    Angeline Tran April 27th, 2010 at 23:01

    My neighborhood just recently made trash and recycle pick-up on the same day. My family rarely recycled until this was implemented. Point is, if it’s convenient people will do it.

41. 

    Patrick Ostrosky April 28th, 2010 at 00:41

    Pepsi is doing a lot lately to change its brand image and do its part to improve the world. This recycling initiative seems like a great idea and goes along well with their current project of funding ideas through the Pepsi Refresh Project. A good amount of people base their purchasing decisions off of companies that are greener than their competitors. With Pepsi making such a strong effort to differentiate itself as a “do good for the world” company, they will probably end up with a stronger consumer base.

42. 

    Justin de la Chi(cago) April 28th, 2010 at 17:35

    Pepsi is a poacher of good ideas, but with their extensive network, and broad brand identity, they can take ownership of said ideas and bring them to mass market.

    I shy away from giving them kudos for their efforts because I see the underlying purpose and reasoning behind this project. How about not using plastic for their bottles? How about not using tap water for their bottled water? How about changing the way they consume natural resources?

    Your farm reminds me of my Grandfather’s house. He had a compost bin, a giant rain barrel to capture rain water for watering plants and the garden, a garden with everything from tomatoes to watermelon, to award winning roses. He had a manual can crusher in the garage and would pay us kids $0.05/ten cans crushed, when he would collect several hundred from the neighbors and businesses around the hood. He would give away anything he couldn’t use to be re-purposed, and watched birds during the early mornings. Garbage trucks would come down the alley, and he would only have a bag of newspapers he would demand they dropped off at the local library who recycled paper. Funny. The man was Green before fashionable to be so.

    I am encouraged to follow in those rather grand footsteps. Hank, kudos for your efforts to keep it Green.

    J

43. 

    Harsh Sanghvi April 29th, 2010 at 00:16

    Recycling/Reusing has a huge potential as an entrepreneur. So many resources are being wasted everyday. Its great that pepsi is taking an initiative. I hope other companies do the same and create more awareness.

44. 

    George Petrov April 29th, 2010 at 08:43

    I agree. With today’s society there are many opportunities that arise for entrepreneurship in the recycling industry. Everyone is trying to go green these days.

45. 

    Josh Graves April 29th, 2010 at 09:34

    i dont think there is much of an opportunity here, the key word is they are already partnering with waste management. kinda hard to push them out of the picture. im sure there is maybe a little something that could be tapped though

46. 

    Soroosh Karamyar April 29th, 2010 at 12:04

    Everyone should recycle. I dont understand why you wouldnt. I recycle when I can but systems are not set up where it is easy all the time and most of the time there is no system at all. Things need to change drastically and it is happening but only very slowly. Having lived in Freiburg (one of the most green cities in the world) I know life can be lived differently and recycling can be incorporated greatly. Its good for everyone. The environment, your wallet, businesses, and it makes you feel better overall. RECYCLE!!!!

47. 

    Andrew burke April 29th, 2010 at 12:35

    I find it somewhat surprising that people aren’t really swayed by saved costs, but not at all surprising that they are swayed by what their neighbors are doing. I feel like pepsi will be coming out with a commercial sometime soon showing how “cool” it is to recycle. That’s the only way I can think of to make people think that everyone is recycling, so they should be too.

48. 

    Kamran Malhance April 29th, 2010 at 14:14

    I actually really like the idea of the “break on your taxes” for recycling. I know Chicago used to have “Blue” bags for recycling and it either got too expensive to continue it or not enough people were doing it but they stopped. What a shame.