Is Anyone Dreaming About This?

Mom was so caught up with all the excitement over Puglet's video on Earth Day that she didn't even notice PepsiCo's new Dream Machine. Or maybe it was a dream that she missed it.

On Earth Day, PepsiCo announced a multi-year partnership in support of the Dream Machine recycling initiative designed around PepsiCo’s goal of increasing the U.S. beverage container recycling rate from 34 percent to 50 percent by 2018. 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.

Mom didn't know it but PepsiCo leads the industry by incorporating 10% recycled plastic their soft drink containers in the U.S. That's all? 10%? It's hard to believe that 10% leads the industry, isn't it? You would think that a company that creates so many plastic containers would use more than 10% recycled plastic. These statistics beg the question, what happens to the other 90%? I'm thinking it's a cost issue because clearly there's lots of recycled plastic out there that could be used. All of this brings up the issue of corporate product stewardship and the cradle to cradle model. These are hot topics these day and I'll be talking about them in the weeks to come.

Back to plastics recycling. According to PepsiCo, less than 1/3 of all plastic beverage containers are currently being recycled with only 12% of public spaces equipped with recycling receptacles. Both figures aren't surprising but are sad. Convenience is definitely a key when it comes to recycling and like I've said before, there's no reason not to recycle plastic bottles. If you have an empty bottle when you're out but can't find a recycling receptacle, please hold onto it until you get home.

PepsiCo saw the need for more reycling receptacles and the Dream Machine was born. The Dream Machines will be provided by GreenOps, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Waste Management, the largest recycler in North America. Greenopolis, a division of Waste Management, will operate the Dream Machines by providing the first ever interactive recycling system that brings together online and on street technologies and rewards people for recycling their plastic beverage containers in the machines.

Several thousand Dream Machines will be introduced in popular public venues such as gas stations, stadiums, and public park in the weeks and months to come. Rite Aid is also set to be one of the first national retailers to place them in their outlets, with 150 kiosks to be placed in their North Carolina locations. Keep America Beautiful (KAB) has also entered into a partnership with PepsiCo and 600 local KAB affiliate organizations will be involved to encourage community involvement in recycling.

According to Jeremy Page, Head of the Dream Machine recycling initiative at PepsiCo “It takes only a small change in behavior to make a big difference for our planet. If every household in the U.S. recycled just three more plastic bottles a month, we could divert more than 23 million pounds of plastic from our landfills each month and increase the amount of recycled plastic used to manufacture new bottles." Holy smokes! 23 million pounds is a lot of plastic. And to think it only takes three additional bottles per household each month.

But why is the Dream Machine called the Dream Machine? How does it fulfill dreams? PepsiCo has a great interactive site that explains all the dreams - for the planet, for veterans with disabilities, and for you.

The dreams for the planet concept is that all bottles are collected and recycled at the local level. This is a great thing because this cuts down on the carbon footprint of the recycled plastic.

The dream for veterans with disabilities concept is a program called Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans which is a national program that offers free, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities. How cool is that?

The dreams for me concept is that recyclers collect points that can be redeemed online for discounts and rewards at Greenopolis.com. These discounts and rewards can be used on entertainment, dining, travel, and personal services from names such as Marriott, Domino's Pizza, Blockbuster and more. You can also earn points by sharing experiences and ideas about recycling and reuse at Greenopolis.com. If you aren't interested in discounts and rewards for yourself, you can donate your points to charities.

There's buzz on the Internet that the energy it takes to build and then run the kiosks is negating any positive impact all the recycling will have on the planet. I'm not sure if this is true and I haven't found any statistics to prove it yet. You may also hear the term greenwashing mentioned when discussing the kiosks. PepsiCo is in the money making business and while there's no doubting the machines intended purpose is to drive consumers to purchase and drink more Pepsi products, my thinking is that anything that raises awareness about recycling and gets people recycling more is a good thing.

Check out this short 2 1/2 minute video on how the Dream Machine works. My only concern about the how it works is that they show bottles being inserted into the machine with the caps on. The machines will accept #1 and #2 bottles, but most caps are made from a different plastic, #5. I know that many companies have changed their caps, but I'm not sure which type of plastic the new caps are made of. I'll be looking into the issue this week.

I'm not advocating drinking Pepsi products. Mom used to be a Pepsiholic but recently gave up it. What I am advocating is recycling plastic, so enjoy the video and get excited about recycling!