Although I am no longer covering local Earth Day events, connecting with brand owners, suppliers and everything in between has shown me that environmental emphasis still is a part of my journalistic career.

According to the Carton Council, Vernon Hills, Ill., the number of households that have the ability to recycle cartons has increased 128 percent in three years.

 For beverage labels, the retail shelf might feel like being in the hot seat on an episode of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”  

Although the concept of recycling might seem simple, with kids in elementary school classrooms being taught the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling, the execution of the concept can be a little bit more confusing. 

The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), Alexandria, Va., is celebrating Recycle Glass Week from Sept. 17 to 21 and is reminding consumers about the importance of recycling glass containers, not just for a day or a week, but as a way of life.

 Honest Tea continued its national recycling campaign, The Great Recycle, in August with a stop in Seattle.  

The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, is collaborating with musician and producer will.i.am along with other iconic brands to inspire a global movement with the launch of Ekocycle, a brand initiative dedicated to help encourage recycling behavior and sustainability among consumers through aspirational, yet attainable lifestyle products made in part from recycled material.

Students recycled more than 4.5 million aluminum beverage cans from America Recycles Day, which was Nov. 15, 2011, through Earth Day on April 22 in the second annual Great American Can Roundup, a national recycling competition sponsored by the U.S. can industry.

Honest Tea, the Bethesda, Md. wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Coca Co., collected more than 15,000 empty plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers during “The Great Recycle” event in New York City yesterday. The containers were collected in a 30-foot-tall recycling bin in Times Square.

The Canadian Beverage Association, Encorp Pacific-Canada, Nestlé Waters Canada and the city of Richmond, British Columbia, announced that their recent Go Recycle! pilot public spaces recycling program resulted in a 27 percent reduction of beverage containers found in the waste stream.