This Earth Day, America’s beverage companies continue to improve recycling systems through the Every Bottle Back initiative, in which they’ve joined with environmental partners and municipalities to invest nearly half a billion dollars to modernize recycling infrastructure and reduce our use of new plastic, American Beverage says.

The association’s 2026 investments have expanded access to recycling services in ways that make it easier for bottles and cans, which are designed to be 100% recyclable, to be collected and remade into new ones as intended. These recycling improvements help keep containers out of the environment or from being wasted in landfills.

“Our industry’s commitment to sustainability through initiatives like Every Bottle Back is rooted in innovation, collaboration and collective responsibility to leave this earth better than we found it for future generations,” said Kevin Keane, president and CEO of American Beverage, in a statement. “Our beverage companies recognize that the most effective and durable solutions come from collaboration, and we work hand-in-hand with policymakers and stakeholders to advance solutions that protect our planet at the local level. When we come together ― industry, government and community partners ― we can make real progress.”

New projects this year are delivering a environmental impact for communities that needed help to create better recycling systems, the association says. Through nearly 70 projects over the past six years, American Beverage invested $34 million to strengthen recycling at the local level through infrastructure upgrades and public education. The investments made to date are part of a $100 million industry commitment in partnership with municipal leaders and prominent environmental groups.

2026 Every Bottle Back investments so far include:

•    Providence, Rhode Island: A major public-private collaboration is delivering 55,000 new recycling carts to residents, paired with education to reduce waste in the recycling stream and improve one of the lowest recycling rates in the state.

•    City of Fairfax, Virginia: Expanding curbside recycling access for more than 24,000 residents by replacing small bins with larger carts for approximately 6,800 households.

•    Modesto, California: Its latest investment announced new, large-capacity recycling bins will be provided to 350 apartment complexes comprising 18,500 Modesto households, bringing recycling access for the first time to many of the residents.

Since the start of Every Bottle Back, the following investments have been accomplished:

•    Implemented state-of-the-art recycling infrastructure in neighborhoods and materials recovery systems in communities that lacked modern systems.

•    Provided more than 1 million recycling carts to individual households.

•    Recycling an estimated additional hundreds of millions of pounds of PET plastic and aluminum over the next decade.

Every Bottle Back is a cornerstone of the beverage industry’s sustainability effort to ensure recyclable materials like bottles and cans are collected and remade to protect the environment and reduce the use of new plastic, the association says.