The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, and Keep America Beautiful Inc., Stamford, Conn., (KAB) partnered to offer the Coca-Cola/KAB Recycling Bin Grant Program, an effort designed to promote and support community recycling.

Grant recipients receive both donated recycling bins and expertise on how to set up recycling programs from Keep America Beautiful. The grant program is part of a $60 million investment by The Coca-Cola Co. in recycling initiatives in the United States.

“Keep America Beautiful is excited to partner for the first time with Coca-Cola on the Recycling Bin Grant program,” said Alec Cooley, manager of recycling programs at Keep America Beautiful, in a statement “This program is a concrete way that Coca-Cola can partner with KAB and its affiliates and local community groups to expand public space recycling on a grassroots level.”

The spring 2010 grant cycle opened on Feb. 1. Interested parties may visit http://bingrant.org and submit an online grant application through March 12. Eligible grant recipients include government agencies, civic organizations, schools and nonprofit groups. Successful applicants will be notified on or before April 22.

Since its inception in the fall of 2007, the Bin Grant program has placed more than 5,700 recycling bins in 150 communities in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Recipients have included municipalities, colleges, Native American tribes, and community-based non-government organizations.

“Our company is committed to designing packages that are recyclable and resource efficient,” said April Crow, sustainable packaging manager, The Coca-Cola Co., in a statement. “We also are focused on ensuring that there are strong end-markets for our packages by investing in commercial recycling and community collection programs like RecycleBank and the Recycling Bin Grant Program. We hope this program will encourage communities to expand recycling as we continue to close the loop for our products as well as other valuable recyclables.”