On Saturday, April 13 Direct Pack sponsored and provided 126 volunteers for the Great LA River CleanUp organized by the Friends of the LA River (FoLAR) at Sepulveda Basin. This was the 30th LA River CleanUp, to capture hundreds of tons of trash before it reaches the ocean. It is the largest urban river cleanup event in the country and, for the second year in row, DPI provided the largest group of volunteers. The Great LA River CleanUp and other river and beach cleanups fit within DPI’s sustainability strategy of recovering plastic waste before it becomes ocean debris.
As a pioneer in the field of PET recycling, DPI has lead efforts in California and throughout the world to recover and reprocess PET into new food packaging. This year we will expand our cleanup efforts to also include organizing a cleanup of the largest lake in Mexico. Over the past 10 years DPI has used 113M lbs of recycled PET from almost 5 billion recovered water bottles. The ground breaking ocean debris study by the Ocean Conservancy determined that the best way to stop ocean debris is to make plastic waste valuable. And, the best way to add value to plastic waste is for DPI and others to use it as feedstock in production.
Global environmental problems can seem overwhelming, but DPI staff found that being part of a hands-on cleanup event gives hope in our ability to create tangible solutions. Director of Sustainability at DPI, Andrew Jolin, expressed, “After working on recycling and greenhouse gas reduction everyday at DPI, river and beach cleanups inspire and give us energy to continue these sustainability efforts everyday”. Watch the FoLAR video from the event, featuring some Direct Pack volunteers!