Rider Launches 'Dream Machine' Recycling Initiative

Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by R.

Rider University and Westminster Choir College are participating in the PepsiCo Dream Machine recycling program, which provides students, faculty and staff with a convenient and rewarding way to recycle their plastic bottles and aluminum cans while on the go. 

The Dream Machine recycling initiative, created by PepsiCo in collaboration with Waste Management, is introducing thousands of recycling bins and kiosks at popular public locations, such as gas stations, stadiums and public parks, across North America. A pair of kiosks debuted at Rider on Friday, April 13, with one located in the Student Recreation Center on the Lawrenceville campus, and another in the Student Center on the Westminster Choir College campus.

The Dream Machine initiative will be publicly introduced at Rider’s Earth Day celebration on Thursday, April 19, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Bart Luedeke Center Patio. Representatives from the PepsiCo Dream Machine team will be there, with giveaways, to engage and inform the campus community about this green initiative. Rider’s Earth Day celebration is sponsored by the Energy and Sustainability Steering Committee and the Eco-Reps.

Dream Machine kiosks are computerized receptacles that include a personal reward system, powered by Greenopolis, which allows users to earn points for every bottle or can they recycle in the kiosk and redeem those points for local discounts on entertainment, dining and travel at www.greenopolis.com.

Additionally, the more bottles and cans people recycle in the Dream Machines on Rider’s campuses and in Dream Machines across the nation, the more support PepsiCo will provide to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering free experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities.

“We are so pleased that Rider University has partnered with the Dream Machine program to make Dream Machines available to students and faculty,” said Jeremy Cage, senior vice president and head of the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative, PepsiCo. “Those who recycle in a Dream Machine can earn rewards and help make a real difference for our planet and in the lives of disabled U.S. veterans.”

That sense of excitement was echoed by members of the Rider community.

“It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. We are promoting a sustainable, green initiative, while supporting our disabled veterans, and the users earn rewards for participating,” said Jill Shockley, Rider’s director of internal operation, who worked closely with PepsiCo to bring the program to the University. “We hope that this program gives those who don’t regularly recycle the extra motivation to get involved in helping to keep our planet green.”

With approximately 4,000 Dream Machine bins and kiosks located in 40 states to date, the program aims to create strategic partnerships to help increase the beverage container recycling rate in the United States to 50 percent by 2018.

“Experience tells us that people are much more likely to recycle if it’s convenient, and they are rewarded for doing so,” said Paul Wolff, operations manager at Greenopolis. “We look forward to working with Rider University to enable a recycling experience that is fun and rewarding on many levels.”

The debut of the Dream Machines, which coincides with Earth Week at Rider, is just part of the good news Rider received this week on the sustainability front. Rider was included in the Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2012 Edition, which profiles 322 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.

To learn more about the Dream Machine, please visit www.facebook.com/DreamMachine.