PURCHASE, N.Y., Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), through the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, announced today a donation of $500,000 for the third consecutive year to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering career training, education and job creation for post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities. With this announcement, PepsiCo is proud to have donated a cumulative $1.5 million to the EBV since its Dream Machine program launched in 2010.
To celebrate this year's donation and encourage even more recycling, PepsiCo will present a check for $500,000 during a Men's Basketball game in early 2013 at Syracuse University, home to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and Whitman School of Management, which founded and operates the EBV program.
"PepsiCo is honored to provide this donation and announce our continued support of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities in 2013 through the Dream Machine program, which makes on-the-go recycling easier and more convenient," said Jeremy Cage, senior vice president and head of the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, PepsiCo. "Our strategic partnership with the EBV allows recyclers to do right by our planet and U.S. veterans with disabilities, a group that has incredible skills to offer as they reenter civilian life."
Since 2010, the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative has partnered with EBV to support its unique resources for veterans: the more plastic bottles and aluminum cans recycled in Dream Machine kiosks and bins across the nation and via the Dream Machine Recycle Rally program for K-12 schools, the more support PepsiCo provides to EBV.
"With PepsiCo's support of the EBV program through the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, we have been able to strengthen our mission to provide free education to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities over the past three years," said Mike Haynie, EBV founder, IVMF executive director and Barnes Professor of Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University's Whitman School. "We are thankful for our partnership with PepsiCo and are excited to be a part of the Dream Machine's efforts to promote behavior that helps our environment."
Created by PepsiCo in collaboration with Waste Management and Keep America Beautiful, the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative has made over 4,000 recycling kiosks and bins available at popular public locations across North America. The kiosks are computerized receptacles that include a personal reward system, which allows consumers to earn points for every plastic bottle or aluminum can that they recycle in the kiosk. Additionally, the initiative's Dream Machine Recycle Rally, a national program encouraging students, grades K-12, to make recycling a part of their everyday lives, offers participating schools the chance to earn rewards and compete for contest prizes.
With the combined efforts of K-12 schools and recyclers across the U.S., the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative has diverted more than 160 million beverage containers from landfill to recycling since the program's inception in 2010 and served as a catalyst for other companies to step up their recycling efforts – all progressing toward PepsiCo's goal of helping increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018.
In addition to supporting veteran employment through the Dream Machine program, PepsiCo has a long legacy of veteran hiring throughout its ranks and across lines of business – from frontline employees up to the highest levels of leadership. The company believes in providing opportunity for our nation's heroes, not just in the name of service, but because they are an outstanding talent pool that help the business win. Established in 2010, PepsiCo's veteran employee resource group VALOR is a platform for supporting veteran transition and success, encouraging networking and giving back to the military community. PepsiCo has been recognized as a 2013 Top 100 Military Friendly Employer by G.I. Jobs and a Top 20 Military Friendly Company by Orion, and was awarded the 2011 US Chamber of Commerce's "Hiring Our Heroes" Award.
About the Dream Machine
The Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, introduced on Earth Day 2010, will make thousands of new recycling kiosks and bins available in popular public venues such as gas stations, stadiums, and public parks. Dream Machine kiosks are computerized receptacles that include a personal reward system that allows consumers to collect and redeem points for each bottle or can they recycle in the kiosk. The multi-year collaboration with Waste Management enables the local capture and recycling of PET and Aluminum, using both technology enabled and non-technology enabled recycling kiosks. The Dream Machines are provided by GreenOps, LLC, a subsidiary of Recyclebank®, and operated by Greenopolis, the first interactive recycling system that brings together online and on-street technologies. People who recycle their beverage containers in kiosks can redeem points they collect and receive awards when they visit www.greenopolis.com. Visit www.facebook.com/dreammachine to learn more.
About Dream Machine Recycle Rally
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. Visit www.dreammachinerecyclerally.com to learn more.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. 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 by conserving energy and water 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 Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,200 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that prevent litter, reduce waste, increase recycling, and create greener public spaces. To learn more, visit www.kab.org.
About The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities
The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) is a program created at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and operated under the auspices of SU's Institute for Veterans and Military Families, designed to provide training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from military service. The mission of the EBV is to open the door to business ownership for veterans, by developing skills that relate to the many steps associated with launching and growing a small business. Today, the EBV is offered through a national consortium of world-class schools across the country, which includes Syracuse University, Texas A&M University, The Florida State University, UCLA, Purdue University, the University of Connecticut, Cornell University and Louisiana State University. The training is provided at no cost to qualified veterans.
Contact:
Blythe Posner
Ruder Finn, Inc.
P: (212) 593-6306
E: posnerb@ruderfinn.com
SOURCE PepsiCo