Recycle Across America (RAA) announces a $250,000 grant from Bank of America to create proper recycling in local communities and schools with the use of the societywide standardized labels for recycling bins. To date, Bank of America’s support has helped more than 1 million K-12 students recycle right and has helped school districts save over $5 million in trash-hauling fees. Since 2015, the bank has provided $400,000 in grant funding to RAA, supporting its efforts to standardize recycling labels.
“Bank of America’s grant program is helping us quickly scale this critical solution to a national level at a time when U.S. recycling most needs it,” says Mitch Hedlund, executive director of Recycle Across America. “Much like standardized road signs allow the public to drive properly anywhere in the U.S., the societywide standardized labels are helping people recycle properly and are proven to increase recycling levels 50 to 400 percent. We’re incredibly grateful to Bank of America for its leadership with this environmental, societal and economic solution, which is helping students recycle right and school districts save millions of dollars.”
Previously through its grant support, thousands of standardized labels were donated to the Orange County Schools district in Orlando, Florida, which is the ninth-largest school district in the U.S., with over 210,000 students. In the first year, its recycling levels increased 90 percent due to the standardized labels.
“With more than 157 languages and dialects spoken, the Recycle Across America labels have made ‘recycling right’ universally understood for our students and staff,” says Jennifer Fowler, director of environmental compliance at Orange County Public Schools. “Since July 2016, Orange County Public Schools has increased recycling by over 5,000 tons. In addition, the recycling program saved the school district over $1 million in expenditures during the 2017-2018 school year alone.”
This new grant from Bank of America enables RAA to provide standardized labels to 1,000 schools, which will help hundreds of thousands of students recycle properly. Placing recyclables in the proper bins helps improve the efficacy and viability of recycling by reducing the contamination, making the processing of the recyclables more cost-effective, and making the recyclables more desirable for manufacturers to reuse. RAA is working diligently to implement societywide standardized labels on recycling bins throughout the country to make it easier for people everywhere to recycle more and recycle right.
“In addition to supporting the distribution of the standardized labels for recycling bins in school districts around the country, Bank of America is displaying the labels on recycling bins in many of our office locations,” says Rich Brown, Environmental Program director at Bank of America. “This is all part of our ongoing efforts to help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
The most recent grant to RAA is part of Bank of America’s broader commitment to improving the environment and accelerating the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. It has also committed to carbon neutrality and purchasing 100 percent renewable electricity by 2020.
To learn more about Recycle Across America, visit www.recycleacrossamerica.org.
Recycle Across America (RAA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which has developed the first and only society-wide standardized labeling system for recycling bins to help eliminate the public confusion surrounding recycling and to improve the economics of closed-loop manufacturing. RAA and the standardized labels have been identified as a world-changing solution by Ashoka Global Innovators for the Public and are being referred to as “one of the most important environmental fixes taking root today.” For more information about RAA’s standardized label initiative or its celebrity-led ‘Let’s Recycle Right’ campaign, visit www.recycleacrossamerica.org or contact info@recycleacrossasmerica.org.
At Bank of America, we’re guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We’re delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It’s demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).
For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, register for news email alerts.
Andrea Ruiz-Hays, Recycle Across America
Phone: 1.407.592.4727
andrea@recycleacrossamerica.org
Kelly Sapp, Bank of America
Phone: 1.980.214.3070
kelly.e.sapp@bofa.com