Town of Brookhaven Recycles More Bottles than Any Other Municipality in the Country

Farmingville, NY – Supervisor Mark Lesko and Councilman Tim Mazzei have announced that the Town of Brookhaven received a $1,000 cash award from Keep America Beautiful (KAB) as part of a nationwide effort sponsored by Nestlé Waters North America to encourage local PET (plastic bottle) recycling during the 2011 Great American Cleanup. The Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest community improvement program, which takes place annually from March 1 through May 31. The Town’s Fourth Annual Great Brookhaven Cleanup was held on April 16, 2011 with over 5,000 residents participating. The Town of Brookhaven ranked highest in the country by contributing over 2900 tons of bottles to the overall effort.

”Our partnership with Keep America Beautiful has been such a benefit to Brookhaven Town and we should all be proud to know that Brookhaven collected the most plastic bottles in the country to win this award,” said Supervisor Lesko. “The Town has stepped up its efforts to get the recycling message out to residents and we’ve partnered with Recyclebank, a program that offers incentives to residents to increase their household recycling. These initiatives and the expansion of our Materials Recycling Facility have contributed to the overall success of our recycling program.”

Councilman Tim Mazzei, liaison to the Department of Waste Management, said, “It’s great to see that Brookhaven residents are thinking green and saving the taxpayers money by reducing disposal costs. Thank you everyone who made an effort to recycle more this year and I expect that we’ll see our numbers increase in 2012.”

“Keep America Beautiful congratulates the Town of Brookhaven for its plastic bottle recycling accomplishments during the 2011 Great American Cleanup,” said Gail Cunningham, senior vice president of Keep America Beautiful, and managing director of the Great American Cleanup. “Through your PET recycling efforts and the efforts of other organizations in communities across America, a record-breaking number of bottles were recycled – a record that the Town should be proud of.”

Nestlé ® Pure Life® Purified Water, the Official National Bottled Water Sponsor of the Great American Cleanup, worked with KAB to further energize PET recycling activities. This year, a new Great American Cleanup record for PET recycling was set – a grand total of 290 million bottles were recycled. Nestlé® Pure Life® PET Recycling Awards were awarded to 25 KAB affiliates that collected the most pounds of PET for recycling based on population served. Eight awards were given in three population categories: small (under 50K), medium (50K – 250K) and large (over 250K), and one award was given in the State KAB affiliate category. Since the Town of Brookhaven ranked highest in the country, the Town received a Nestlé® Pure Life® PET Recycling Award in the over 250K population category.

Earlier this year, the Town started a public information effort to urge residents to increase recycling efforts. The Town launched a new webpage that enables residents to track their collection district’s recycling rates, which will be updated quarterly. Residents can go to www.brookhaven.org/recycle and find out if their collection district is an above-average or below-average recycler compared to the rest of the Town by clicking on their school district and then their collection district. This online tracker also sets recycling goals for each collection district based upon their recycling history.

Recycling has significant environmental benefits. Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water. If a plastic bottle is thrown away instead of recycled, it takes 500 years for that bottle to break down. Recycling saves energy, conserves natural resources and water, reduces emissions of greenhouse gases, and limits the amount of garbage going into our landfill. In addition, recycling has a positive impact on Town finances. If over the course of the entire year recycling rates increase 5%, the Town would save $1 million in disposal costs and realize $500,000 from the sale of recyclables.

About Recyclebank
Recyclebank® helps create a more sustainable future by rewarding people for taking everyday green actions with discounts and deals from more than 3,000 local and national businesses. Through its online platform and partnerships with municipalities, haulers, small businesses and corporate brands, Recyclebank is empowering individuals to make a collective impact on the environment by increasing household recycling, reducing household energy usage and learning to live greener lives. Recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme and for Outstanding Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Recyclebank is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit www.Recyclebank.com.

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. The Great American Cleanup is KAB’s annual signature program that mobilizes millions of volunteers to improve their communities through hands-on participation. To join the Great American Cleanup and let green start with you, visit www.kab.org.

For more information about the Town’s recycling program and collection schedule, call 451-TOWN or visit www.brookhaven.org

Division of Public Information * Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone (631) 451-6595 • Fax (631) 451-6258