Community
Recycling Program. Initially, it was for Spartanburg County Schools, but now is
implemented throughout the Upstate of South Carolina.
It's
been made possible through a partnership between United Resource Recovery
Corporation (URRC) and Spartanburg Coca-Cola.
About
iRecycle
In
the spring of 2008, URRC and Spartanburg Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc.
partnered together to launch iRecycle, an innovative recycling program in
Spartanburg County schools. URRC provides recycling bins and other promotional
supplies to get the students involved in recycling and Coca-Cola then collects
these recyclable items after delivering their products to the schools.
A
prototype program was started in Spartanburg School District 5, holding a naming
contest for the program. Christina Jackson from Florence Chapel Middle School
won, choosing the name iRecycle.
The
program has been a tremendous success, operating in schools, businesses and
throughout the community, with plans to continue expanding!
- URRC
and Coca-Cola are very excited to announce the first ever iRecycle
scholarship. This was awarded to a Byrnes High School student
Komal Patel who was very involved in recycling at her school. Komal received
a scholarship to Spartanburg Community College and participated in their
dual enrollment program during her senior year.
- Our
goal, with the help of the iRecycle
Run, will be to give a scholarship to all participating High
Schools after one year of participation.
About
URRC, Coca-Cola, & NURRC
Headquartered
in Spartanburg, SC, URRC was founded in 1992. The company originally provided
services to the polyester or PET, silver film recovery market. In 1994, it
developed and patented the UnPet process for chemically super cleaning PET
(polyethylene terephthalate) chip for food grade packaging.
In
1996 it entered into a development agreement with the Coca-Cola Company to
perfect the process for bottle-to-bottle recycling. In 2000 the FDA (Food and
Drug Administration) issued its letter of non-objection to clear the way for
commercial food grade applications.
As
part of Coca-Cola's long-term initiative to have 100 percent of its plastic
bottles recycled or reused, URRC signed an agreement with Coca-Cola in 2007 to
form a joint venture, NURRC. Coca-Cola invested $60 million to build a new
facility, forming the largest bottle-to bottle recycling plant in the world.
The
new plant expanded URRC's existing operations from 10 million pounds of recycled
chip to 100 million pounds per year. In addition to the financial and
energy-saving benefits of recycling plastic, the Spartanburg plant is expected
to eliminate the production of one million metric tons of carbon dioxide
emissions over the next ten years.
URRC, LLC
5396 N. Blackstock Road
Spartanburg, SC
29303
Phone:
864-574-0904
Webpage: www.irecycledoyou.net