The beverage industry will provide $800,000 to help rebuild and re-open a long-quiet MRF in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The American Beverage Association (ABA) and Closed Loop Partners announced the grant to upgrade the MRF, which is owned by the city and operated by nonprofit group Recycle Ann Arbor (RAA). The money was awarded through the Every Bottle Back initiative, which is managed in partnership with Closed Loop Partners.
In July, the Ann Arbor City Council voted to approve a MRF services agreement with RAA. Under the deal, RAA is overseeing a multi-million-dollar overhaul of the facility, which hasn’t sorted recyclables since 2016. The project has also received grant funding from the state of Michigan.
“The rebuild of Ann Arbor’s materials recovery facility comes at a critical moment for recycling infrastructure in the United States, amidst a global pandemic that has disrupted supply chains and highlighted the need to keep valuable recycled materials in circulation in local manufacturing supply chains,” Ron Gonen, CEO of Closed Loop Partners, stated in a press release.
MLive.com reported the project kicked off during America Recycles Week.
The Coca-Cola Co., Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo back the Every Bottle Back initiative, which seeks to boost recovery of plastic bottles and aluminum cans so they can be recycled into new beverage containers. The Ann Arbor effort is the fourth out of 11 initial projects the beverage industry has committed to funding through the effort, according to the release.
