“I Want To Be Recycled” Campaign Marks Earth Week with Additional Partners, New Initiative from Unilever

STAMFORD, Conn. (April 21, 2016) — Keep America Beautiful and the Ad Council announce new content today featuring Amazon Original Kids Series Creative Galaxy and Annedroids and new partners, Cinemark Theatres and eco-beauty blogger SunKissAlba, supporting the “I Want To Be Recycled” public service campaign. National campaign sponsor Unilever will also launch a spring consumer promotion encouraging consumers to #RethinkRecycling and rally Americans to recycle empty bathroom bottles. “I Want To Be Recycled” is the nation’s leading recycling-focused consumer awareness, education and activation public service campaign.

These new partnerships and initiatives, which include a series of new public service ads (PSAs), online video, a Twitter chat and other socially-driven content, are the latest from the successful national campaign created by Keep America Beautiful and the Ad Council to help convert sporadic recyclers into consistent, everyday recyclers at home, at work and on-the-go. Since its July 2013 launch, the campaign has received more than $123 million in donated media support, attracted more than 3.2 million visitors to IWantToBeRecycled.org, and been seen or heard by nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population.

“We’re thrilled to have Amazon, Cinemark and SunKissAlba join our recycling movement and grateful to Unilever for their continued support,” said Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO, Keep America Beautiful. “‘I Want To Be Recycled’ educates and engages people to understand the ‘how, what, where and why’ of recycling, demonstrating in an array of creative ways and through varied platforms that we can give our garbage another life and change people’s behavior to make recycling a daily social norm.”

The average American generates 4.4 pounds of trash per day, adding to the grand total of about 254 million tons of trash the United States accumulates per year. However, only about 35 percent of our waste is recycled according to the U.S. EPA.

A new series of TV, digital, and outdoor PSAs were produced pro bono to communicate the importance of recycling to a younger generation. The campaign features characters from two Amazon Original Kids Series that foster lifelong creative learning, Creative Galaxy (targeted to preschool-aged children) and Emmy-nominated Annedroids (for children grades K-5). As Creative Galaxy promotes the learning and creativity of children and Annedroids spotlights how the STEM curriculum can inspire children to do great things, the PSAs encourage children to turn trash into treasures through upcycling and recycling cardboard boxes.

To supplement the creative assets, Amazon created a full Scholastic Learning program containing print and digital assets distributed to over 600,000 teachers nationwide.

Recycling rates lower even further when it comes to bathroom and beauty products. While a majority of Americans are aware that their personal care products are recyclable, according to research commissioned by the Ad Council for Keep America Beautiful, only 10 percent have a recycling bin in their bathroom compared to 45 percent who have recycling bins in the kitchen. Two new spring campaign initiatives aim to change behaviors when it comes to recycling bathroom and personal care products.

In support of Earth Week, national “I Want To Be Recycled” sponsor Unilever has joined with Keep America Beautiful to launch a campaign to encourage Americans to reassess their recycling habits and treat their Unilever bathroom empties with the same respect as their kitchen counterparts. When people #RethinkRecycling, Unilever and Keep America Beautiful will showcase the amazing things recycled bottles can become, including coats for kids, school supplies or playgrounds from recycled plastics. Consumers can visit @UnileverUSA on Twitter to vote for which products they want their reimagined recyclable to become. The effort is a reprise of last year’s “Rinse. Recycle. Reimagine.” campaign, part of the Unilever brightFuture initiative in support of Unilever’s purpose-driven business model, the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), which aims to increase its positive social impact while reducing its environmental impact.

Keep America Beautiful has partnered with the Ad Council’s Creators for Good program to enlist natural beauty and wellness content creator, SunKissAlba, as an advocate for “I Want To Be Recycled.” The Ad Council’s Creators for Good program provides the opportunity for social media influencers with a large following to develop content to further the Ad Council’s iconic and impactful campaigns. SunKissAlba (Alba Garcia) has created a YouTube video promoting recycling in support of Earth Day. She will also host a Twitter chat with Keep America Beautiful during Earth Week on April 21 to discuss the importance of recycling in the bathroom.

“Creating content and social conversations that bring awareness to the importance of volunteering and community organizing to keep our country beautiful for the next generation is very inspiring; exercising good recycling habits is one way to do that,” said SunKissAlba.

Finally, thanks to a pro bono partnership with Cinemark Theatres, Keep America Beautiful’s “I Want To Be Recycled” PSAs will be shown prior to all movies and in the lobbies of all 337 Cinemark operated movie theatres in the U.S., comprising 4,518 screens in 41 states, throughout April in support of Earth Week and Keep America Beautiful Month.

About Keep America Beautiful
At Keep America Beautiful, we want to ensure that beauty is our lasting signature. A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country where every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people end littering, improve recycling, and beautify America’s communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. To learn how you can donate or take action, visit kab.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.

The Ad Council
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshaling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has affected, and continues to affect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or view our PSAs on YouTube.

About Unilever United States, Inc.
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Refreshments, Home and Personal Care products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. In the United States, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Good Humor, Hellmann’s, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond’s, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Simple, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TIGI, TONI&GUY Hair Meet Wardrobe, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Unilever employs approximately 8,000 people in the United States – generating more than $8.5 billion in sales in 2015.

Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) commits to:

• Decoupling growth from environmental impact.
• Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being.
• Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

Unilever ranked number one in its sector on the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The entire Unilever global factory network, as well as its U.S. non-manufacturing facilities, have achieved zero non-hazardous waste to landfill status.

For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com
To connect with Unilever U.S. via Facebook visit: www.facebook.com/unileverusa
To connect with Unilever U.S. via Twitter follow: @unileverusa

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