• Customers that sell packaged beverages in substantial volumes could be a great fit if:
  • The product is likely to be consumed onsite and/or
  • Consumers may be likely to bring products consumed off site back for recycling
  • The customer has significant indoor storage space for recyclables, or outdoor space for a storage container.
• Example customers may include:
  • Colleges and universities
  • Large event venues, arenas, or stadiums
  • Hotels or resorts
  • Zoos, aquariums, parks, etc.

Enrollment is open on an ongoing basis for any eligible customer. See eligibility requirements in the Prerequisites section below.

Once we approve customers, the lead time is about 4-16 weeks. However, approving and verifying customer eligibility can take longer.

PepsiCo sponsors the CIRQU program, making participation free for our eligible customers.

Starting in 2024, to continue scaling this program, one-time activation fees will need to be shared with local PepsiCo customer sales teams while the PBNA sustainability team continues to fund recurring service fees.

Through our sponsorship, our partner, Replenysh, will provide super sacks and an optional storage container for storage of beverage containers in the back of the house, as well as hauling services to pick up the material once the customer has met the minimum volume required for pickup. Customers will collect and store a large volume of recyclables, making shipments of material super efficient and better for the environment. Since hauling is sponsored by PepsiCo, this saves customers money!

Customers may also be able to work with local PepsiCo sales teams to procure recycling bins for their location.

To determine eligibility, we will first check the market. The customer must either be in an existing CIRQU market or in an area where the PBNA sustainability team plans to expand the program. Please check www.cirqu.com for the current CIRQU markets. Expansion is possible in many states throughout the South and Central regions, as well as California.

Second, we will check the channel. The best types of customers for this program include:

• Colleges and universities
• Large event venues, arenas, or stadiums
• Zoos, aquariums, parks, etc.

Finally, we will input some factors such as total cases purchased per year of cans and bottles, the location’s address, and available storage space into an internal calculator to determine final eligibility. 

Additional prerequisites include:

• Customers must commit to separating each material type into separate super sacks–i.e., plastic bottles into one, aluminum cans into another
• Willingness to store collected materials in at least 2 super sacks side by side until they are full. Each sack measures about 3’x3’x5’ when full.
• Space to store 28 full supersacks or be willing to accept a 20 ft. storage container to store super sacks for efficient pickups.
• Ability to designate labor to move materials from the point of collection to the super sacks (and to review them before dumping them to verify they’re not contaminated).
• Ability to designate a ‘point person’ to engage with the app to tell us when it’s time to pick up your full sack of materials.

To further support program goals, one may offer to purchase recycling bins for the “front of house” for the customer—i.e., the point of collection from the consumer, to complement the free ‘back of house’ bins we are providing as a standard service.

If the team wants to pursue this, it should be funded by the local PBNA division or customer account team or can be cost-shared with the customer. It can leverage our process for ordering recycling bins for easy- to-implement recycling bin options or customers may source their own preferred or custom bins if local PBNA teams wish to assist them.

Please contact the PBNA sustainability team for guidance on applying the CIRQU brand to recycling bins. A new brand guide will be released in Q2 2024.