HONOLULU--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Recycle Across America (RAA) is partnering with Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony) to help implement its sustainability initiative at the Sony Open in Hawaii. As a result of the collaboration, RAA’s standardized labels will be displayed on the trash and mixed recycling bins throughout the event, making it easier for attendees to recycle more and to recycle right. The partnership is targeting a 90% recycling rate at the event.
In addition, Sony is donating one thousand standardized labels for recycling bins to local schools in Hawaii, where they will join more than 2,500 US schools (including Houston, Washington DC, San Diego and other districts) in the growing movement toward helping the next generation become better recyclers. Thanks to Sony’s initiatives in Hawaii, RAA’s easy-to-understand standardized labels will soon be displayed on recycling bins at K-12 schools on the island of Oahu, making it easier for Oahu students to recycle properly.
To date there are nearly 750,000 standardized labels on recycling bins throughout the U.S. The standardized labels have proven to increase recycling levels between 50-100% and they significantly reduce the amount of garbage that contaminates the recycling stream as a result of historically inconsistent and confusing labels on bins. Recycling has been identified as the most important action society can do to help the environment, but only when it is done properly.
“We are very pleased with the opportunity to work with RAA and the local communities in Hawaii to increase recycling,” said Lewis Hasegawa, General Manager of Sony Hawaii Company. “The Sony Open in Hawaii is a great occasion to be reminded about the importance of keeping Hawaii as beautiful as it is, and creating a more sustainable Sony Open is part of our efforts to reduce the overall environmental impact of Sony’s business activities under the Road to Zero environmental management plan.”
“We’re excited to be working on this project with our forward-thinking friends at Sony,” said Mitch Hedlund, Executive Director of RAA. “They clearly understand the importance of recycling and they understand the exponential environmental impact the standardized labels are making, by helping people recycle right. The fact that Sony is working to improve the recycling levels at the PGA tournament is exceptional. And the fact that they also donated the standardized labels to neighboring Hawaiian schools demonstrates their ongoing commitment to sustainability, which will benefit Hawaii for generations to come.”
In 2014, Sony Electronics was one of the companies invited by Participant Media and RAA to attend the Brand Leader Summit where leading brands were asked to help advance the standardized label and Let’s recycle right! movement. Participant’s television network Pivot will spotlight Sony’s involvement through on-air spots highlighting the use of the standardized labels at the Sony Open as well as Sony’s donation to schools in Oahu, Hawaii.
“With worldwide waste expected to double by 2025 and with the oceans currently containing approximately 100 million tons of discarded plastics,” added Hedlund, “it’s more important than ever that we begin making recycling economically viable and subsequently, the demand for these materials a preferred choice by manufacturers. We need to make sure these materials are no longer thought of as waste and are no longer ending up in waterways and in the bellies of sea life. The way to achieve this is to help the general public begin to recycle properly. Therefore, we are thrilled to have the Department of Education of Hawaii join the Let’s recycle right! campaign and the standardized label movement because as residents of the Hawaiian Islands, they are intimately aware of the issues of waste in oceans and the need for solutions to change the tide.”
About Recycle Across America
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.