GreenLabs debuts plastic can carrier mail-in recycling program

More attention is being given to plastic can carrier recycling. Many of these new recycling programs have been grassroots efforts by nonprofits to build brewery co-ops and divert these carriers from waste streams as a team. New England has been at the forefront of such efforts, and Boston-based GreenLabs Recycling is ready to ramp things up even more.

GreenLabs is rapidly expanding plastic recycling company serving the brewing and biotech industries in the Greater Boston area. These can carriers, GreenLabs says, are made of highly recyclable plastic (HDPE #2 resin) — but often cannot be handled in standard curbside pickup programs. The carriers instead end up in landfills or incinerators due to inefficient sorting technologies at most single-stream recycling facilities.

This month, GreenLabs launched a mail-in program for recycling plastic can carriers from breweries and liquor stores. This mail-in program allows breweries and liquor stores from outside of GreenLabs’ direct-to-facility pickup radius to participate in this New England-based recycling initiative.

How it works

Participating in the mail-in program is easy – any brewery or retailer in New England can purchase a recycling box from GreenLabs’ online store at www.GreenLabsRecycling.com, fill the box (above) with can carriers, and mail it back to the GreenLabs Recycling facility in Massachusetts using a pre-paid shipping label via UPS.

“We are looking forward to recycling with beer makers and retailers in extended regions,” said Matt Young, a Co-Founder of GreenLabs Recycling. “Given the lightweight and compact size of the can carriers, the launch of a mail-in program makes perfect sense as we are on a mission to give as many of the can carriers a second life as possible.”

GreenLabs Recycling has been collecting can carriers directly from select breweries and liquor stores near Boston since June 2021, giving more than 2,000 pounds of can carriers a second life. The mail-in program will offer breweries and liquor stores outside the Greater Boston area a much needed and convenient recycling solution.

“In Westford [Massachusetts] the community is aware of the fact that the can carriers are not recyclable in single stream programs as curbside recycling auditors often pick them out and leave them on the curb, while taking the rest of the recyclables into the truck” said the owner of the Craft Beer Cellar. “Now our guests have a designated bin for dropping off the can carriers while shopping in our store.”