Innovative lightweight packaging has reduced the energy and raw materials used to create our industry’s bottles and cans and bottles – which, as a reminder, are 100 percent recyclable.  In fact, the beverage industry’s cans and bottles are among the most recycled consumer packaging in the country.  And we also help to encourage recycling through our work with The Climate Group, support of America Recycles Day and our promotion of “Think Inside the Bin.”

Here at Sip & Savor we recognize how important it is to do our part to help protect and preserve our planet – and we are proud to be a part of an industry that does, too.  We encourage you to check out the resources on our recycling page. Find out what happens to your recycled cans and bottles and more ways you can get involved with important recycling programs in your own community.

PepsiCo launched the Pepsi Refresh Project yesterday. People with ideas “that will have a positive impact” can submit them through the Web site for consideration. They will accept 1,000 ideas per month. Not only can individuals submit and browse ideas, but they can vote for their favorites. Ideas are categorized for easy browsing and the blog highlights successful programs and socially responsible innovation.

The Coca-Cola Company’s Live Positively campaign highlights their involvement in social responsibility. With the Super Bowl right around the corner, The Coca-Cola Company is utilizing a virtual gift-giving application on Facebook that gives users a preview of the ads the company will run during the big game. For each gift given, The Coca-Cola Company will make a donation to the Boys & Girls Club of America.

From Nestlé Waters’ “Communities Take Root” program, which plants public fruit tree orchards, to Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s contributions to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation – many of our member companies support on-going programs.

Importantly, all of our member companies also continue efforts to further minimize their environmental impact by using best practices for responsible and innovative packaging manufacturing, among other initiatives. We support and encourage this spirit of giving and hope you’ll join us in working to make positive change in communities around the globe.

The beverage industry is with you, Mr. President. Right now, our industry provides good-paying jobs throughout America, in communities large and small. These jobs come with good health benefits, helping address both the jobs and health care needs of the nation. These are jobs, Mr. President, that need to be protected and nurtured with vibrant economic policies that stimulate expansion.

We’re also working to provide the jobs of the future, the so-called “green jobs,” that you are emphasizing.

Our major companies – led by The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Nestle Waters North America – are investing in tomorrow’s jobs today. Right now, they’re buying hybrid delivery trucks and “greening” their fleets. This not only helps improve the environment, but it helps create a market for hybrid trucks and a foundation for the good-paying jobs in the automotive industry that make these trucks.

Our companies are building green, LEED-certified buildings and facilities. Again, building in an environmentally sound manner, but providing green construction jobs to build these facilities and their unique characteristics.

Earlier this month, The Coca-Cola Company opened the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle PET plastic recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C., doing so in conjunction with United Resource Recovery Corp. This plant creates new green jobs at a facility that takes 100 percent plastic bottles full circle by turning them into recycled plastic materials for use in new containers made of recycled plastic and other consumer goods.

Pepsi was recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency for its purchase of 1 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, making the company the largest purchaser of green power in the nation. And it is making further investments in sustainability that support green jobs.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group is replacing its cold drink equipment (coolers and vending machines) with new Energy Star-rated equipment that will save customers $9 million in electric costs by 2012 – the equivalent of removing the CO2 emissions of 11,000 cars from the road each year.

And Nestle Waters moved to further lightweight its packaging, using 30 percent less plastic in its current PET bottles. A savings in energy and materials through the use of new technologies.

Finally, as an industry, we’re working to revitalize recycling in America – partnering with the renowned environmental organization The Climate Group to do so. We’re one of the few industries whose products come in 100 percent recyclable containers. We need to bring those containers Full Circle by thinking inside the bin and boosting recycling.

These are just some of the innovative examples taking place in the beverage industry to create the new, environmentally based jobs of the future by making wise investments in environmental sustainability.

We’re ready to roll, Mr. President. In fact, we’re already hard at work and ahead of the curve when it comes to remaking America on the environment and jobs front.