Initiative to increase recycling of beverage cartons nationwide

CHICAGO and HOUSTON, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Tropicana, a division of PepsiCo and the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices, and Waste Management, the largest residential recycler, today announced the launch of a national initiative to increase the number of juice and milk cartons for recycling.

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Waste Management will be accepting juice and milk beverage cartons at all of its recycling processing facilities across the country. The initiative will kick-off the long-term goal of increasing beverage carton recycling to every community across the nation, which will be promoted through the Carton Council.

In areas currently accepting cartons, residents can easily recycle juice, milk, soy, broth and other beverage cartons by placing them in their recycling bins as part of their curbside recycling program. For consumers who must separate recyclables, cartons can be placed with bottles and cans. Consumers can quickly find out if their municipality accepts cartons by visiting www.recyclecartons.com. Consumers that do not have access to curbside collection of containers are able to go to www.thinkgreenfromhome.com and purchase an in-home recycling container.

"Tropicana is dedicated to minimizing its impact on the earth and making it easier for consumers to do their part through recycling and waste reduction initiatives," said Andrew Hartshorn, senior marketing manager, Tropicana Products, Inc. "We are proud to be working with Waste Management to promote the expansion of carton recycling across the country and finding new ways to recycle our products into environmentally beneficial products."

"Waste Management is dedicated to making recycling more accessible for consumers across the country," said Robert Dishman, director for Waste Management Recycle America. "One of our sustainability goals is to triple the amount of recyclables we process from nearly eight million to 20 million tons by 2020 with the support of companies like Tropicana."

Tropicana, Waste Management, Dean Foods (T.G. Lee Dairy(R), Horizon Organic(R) and Silk(R)) and the Carton Council (Evergreen Packaging, Tetra Pak, Sig Combibloc, and Elopak) launched a successful pilot in Tampa, FL to expand carton recycling and to educate consumers to recycle their cartons. Encouraged by the Florida Pilot, the initiative is now expanding to include all areas that Waste Management -- the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America -- has recycling processing facilities.

Waste Management separates the cartons from the other recyclables and sends them to secondary mills for recycling. Juice and milk cartons, like those used by Tropicana, are recycled through a process called hydropulping, which recovers the paper fibers. The fibers are then recycled into tissue, paper towels, and other paper products.

The Tropicana carton is largely made of a renewable resource (85 percent paper and 15 percent polymer). The paper board in Tropicana's carton recently received certification from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (www.sfiprogram.org) under its fiber-sourcing certification program. Sustainable Forestry Initiative participants practice responsible forestry on the lands they manage, and influence millions of additional acres in North America and globally through certified procurement programs. These programs include measures to acquire wood from known legal sources, to keep waters clean and fresh, and to conserve biological diversity.

About Tropicana's Sustainability Mission

Tropicana is committed to using natural resources in a responsible manner and has made sustainability part of its mission. A driving force behind this Tropicana environmental mission is PepsiCo's "Performance with a Purpose" approach: integrating a dual commitment to social and environmental performance into all its businesses. The company has a long history of decreasing its impact on the environment through efforts such as turning discarded orange peels into cattle feed and using renewable energy. In a first for any consumer brand in North America, Tropicana had the carbon footprint of its 64-ounce Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice certified with the Carbon Trust, providing the information needed to find opportunities to reduce carbon emissions.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also a leading residential recycler, as well as developer, operator, and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The Company's customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

About the Carton Council

The Liquid Carton Council is comprised of the manufacturers of liquid cartons. We are proud that our products have among the lowest environmental impacts in the packaging industry. We seek to reduce the impacts even further by expanding recycling programs across the country and continuously improving our environmental performance. To learn more about carton recycling, please visit www.recyclecartons.com.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, with 2007 annual revenues of more than $39 billion. The company employs approximately 185,000 people worldwide, and its products are sold in approximately 200 countries. Its principal businesses include: Frito-Lay snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices and Quaker foods. The PepsiCo portfolio includes 18 brands that generate $1 billion or more each in annual retail sales. PepsiCo's commitment to sustainable growth, defined as Performance with Purpose, is focused on generating healthy financial returns while giving back to communities the company serves. This includes meeting consumer needs for a spectrum of convenient foods and beverages, reducing the company's impact on the environment through water, energy and packaging initiatives, and supporting its employees through a diverse and inclusive culture that recruits and retains world-class talent. As a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North America), PepsiCo is a recognized leader in sustainability. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

Sources:

-- United States Environmental Protection Agency, "Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts & Figures for 2006." (http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw06.pdf)

-- Sustainablog, "Recycling by the Numbers: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Statistics and Comparisons." (http://sustainablog.org/2008/08/22/recycling-by-the-numbers-the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-statistics-and-comparisons/)

-- Aseptic Packaging Council, "The Award-Winning Earth Smart Packaging for a Healthy Lifestyle." (www.recyclecartons.com)

    Contact: Shannon Stevens
    M Booth & Associates
    212.481.7000
    Shannons@mbooth.com

    Karen May
    Tropicana
    312-821-2621
    Karen.may@tropicana.com

    Wes Muir
    Waste Management
    713-328-7053
    wmuir@wm.com

SOURCE Tropicana