Coke Teams With Kiwanis & WSI for Recycling in Miami

What happens when you combine the world’s favorite sparkling beverage, one million people, 200 recycling bins and the largest street festival in the United States in one of the hottest cities in America? For Calle Ocho, you get one of the most intensive recycling efforts in South Florida. On March 15, Coca-Cola Recycling will join the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana to create a recycling initiative at this year’s Calle Ocho in Miami and generate greater awareness about recycling among consumers.

“Coca-Cola is committed to meeting its goal of recycling and reusing 100 percent of the bottles and cans it produces in the U.S.,” said Alejandro Gomez, multicultural marketing manager, southeast region, Coca-Cola North America. “We are thrilled to join forces with the Kiwanis Club to bring recycling to Calle Ocho and help us meet our goal. Calle Ocho is an amazing event where people can have fun, enjoy a Coke and celebrate life while recycling one bottle at a time.”

Coca-Cola Recycling will place 200 recycling bins along the event route for attendees to recycle their aluminum cans and PET plastic beverage bottles. In addition, Coca-Cola Recycling will have an interactive recycling station designed to educate the community about the importance of recycling. Volunteers at the recycling station will provide giveaways to festival goers who visit the station to recycle their beverage containers. Giveaways will include coupons for a free 20-ounce Coca-Cola product that can be redeemed at participating retailers.

As an extra incentive, a “Caught Red Handed” program will be employed at the 8th minute of every hour. Two lucky people who get caught recycling will receive a backstage pass for the Coca-Cola Stage entitling them to attend the Coca-Cola VIP area, meet some of the artists and experience Calle Ocho Coca-Cola style.

“Coca-Cola has been a valued partner of Calle Ocho for more than 30 years,” said Ricardo Gonzalez, president of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana. “Calle Ocho is the crown jewel of all Hispanic celebrations in the U.S. and we are excited to be working with Coca-Cola to help educate festival goers on the importance of recycling.”

Waste Services of Florida, Inc. (WSI), a multi-regional, integrated solid waste services company, will play a crucial role in these efforts by collecting the recycled materials and transporting them back to their facility for processing.

“With two hundred barrels in place, we have the opportunity to recover a significant number of used beverage containers,” said Mike Tewey, district manager, WSI. “I’m confident that South Florida residents will take advantage of this opportunity to reduce waste and recycle these valuable resources.”

In January, Coca-Cola opened the world’s largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. and launched a multi-million dollar marketing effort supporting recycling called “Give it Back.” The “Give it Back” program is designed to remind consumers that Coca-Cola bottles and cans are valuable recyclables.

Source: The Coca-Cola Company

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