Dart Container Corporation
Dart has been an industry leader in recycling for more than 30 years. They’re taking responsibility for the environmental effects of giving people the freedom to enjoy their food & drinks on the go. The most important part of their program is that it’s a sincere, holistic, and strategic based approach on a robust commitment to sustainability, including prevention, education and mitigation efforts.
To promote recycling, especially of polystyrene, they operate or assist with nearly 100 drop-off sites to the public for polystyrene foam recycling and worked with industry partners to provide further opportunities in businesses and schools. They help their customers and the public recycle millions of pounds of polystyrene annually. To further facilitate polystyrene recycling, they’ve invested over $18 million in Omni Recycling in Indianapolis, IN, where they collect from customers and municipal recycling programs that use foam and rigid polystyrene for recycling.
They’re working to inspire others to invest in secondary material reclamation facilities (MRFs) and commit significant dollars to advance the concept of secondary MRFs in the US. They also advocate for secondary MRF adoption with industry associations and through public policy. Secondary MRFs help solve the challenge primary MRFs face regarding materials that lack critical mass. Primary MRFs can recycle the materials they choose to sort; then send materials they don’t want to sort to a secondary MRF. Since a secondary MRF receives material from several primary MRFs, it reaches the volume necessary for profitable recycling of items such as aseptic cartons, non-clear PET, polypropylene and polystyrene. Titus, the company in which Dart has invested since 2014, has diverted 210,000 pounds of aluminum cans, 3.3 million pounds of PET bottles and 35 million pounds of paper from landfills.
At no charge, Dart provides or supports more than 40 drop-off sites for polystyrene recycling in Michigan alone. At their Mason, MI, headquarters, they divert more than 86% of their waste from the landfill through recycling. And, offer a drive-thru recycling center for employees in mid-Michigan to drop off household recycling.
As part of the DCAT program, Dart’s mid-Michigan teams recently picked up 900 pounds of littered trash from parks and areas around Sycamore Creek in Mason and the Grand and Red Cedar rivers in Lansing. The group picked up bicycle frames, clothing, mattresses, bottles and other junk, while another team worked with the Ingham Conservation District to clear a truckload of invasive plants and debris from a rain garden in Leslie, Michigan.
Learn More: https://www.dartcontainer.com/why-dart/sustainability