Community Updates

Food City, Eastman partner to recycle

The wins for sustainability came quickly when Eastman and regional grocer Food City officially launched their new Shop, Recycle, Repeat recycling program in Kingsport, Tennessee.

“We had people bring bag upon bag of plastic,” said Eastman’s Jacquelyn Keeney. “They had been collecting their plastic for weeks since we first announced the program.”

By Eastman | Published 6 months ago | About a 1 minute read

Steve Smith, Food City’s CEO, was among those who brought a bag of plastic from home. On the first day the recycling bin was ready to receive, Smith deposited plastic.

“Seeing the level of support of leadership at Eastman and Food City has been inspiring,” said Meghana Diwanji. “They made sure there were no roadblocks that would prevent this from happening.”

Keeney and Diwanji are key members of an Eastman team that worked with their Food City counterparts to bring plastic recycling to Kingsport. In the first month, the early community response was overwhelming, said Keeney, a circular economy project leader at Eastman. “We’ve collected a lot of plastic so far — 3,000 pounds in the first month,” she said.

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