How do you get students excited about recycling? Start a rally. To get more students recycling, PepsiCo announced it is now opening its popular K-12 school Recycle Rally program to schools across the U.S. The program is one of the ways PepsiCo is working to increase recycling to help drive the U.S. beverage container recycling rate to 50% by 2018.

Recycle Rally, one of PepsiCo Recycling's longest running recycling initiatives, assists schools in equipping students and staff with incentives and tools to lead the way in promoting recycling in their communities. The program incorporates the thrill of competition through an online leaderboard and progress tracking tool, grants participants access to a network of other schools and enables them to share related educational lessons and helpful resources to recognize and reward recycling achievements. PepsiCo is customizing the program in the 2014-2015 school year to provide opportunities for school and community involvement, giving schools across the nation the chance to earn rewards, gain access to educational tools and connect to an organized recycling effort.

Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, the program is open for enrollment and participating schools will have a chance to win thousands of dollars in cash prizes and other perks, including lunch bags, school supplies, gym equipment and gift cards, just by logging how much they've recycled. New schools can join throughout the year by visiting PepsiCoRecycling.com/Programs/RecycleRally, and schools that register by October 31 will be entered to win more chances for rewards. Since launching the program in 2010, PepsiCo has rewarded participants for their recycling activity and engagement in the program. By the close of the current school year, PepsiCo is on track to deliver a total of $1 million in prizes and rewards to Recycle Rally schools.

"Recycle Rally enables students at schools of all sizes to build a sense of teamwork and recognition in their hometowns," says Tom Mooradian, sustainability manager for PepsiCo. "We are thrilled to take this program to new heights by offering more recycling opportunities for new students and communities than ever before. Our belief is that simple acts can have a big impact. Programs like Recycle Rally and the efforts of communities and companies around the nation have led to an 8 point increase in the recycling rates for beverages containers since PepsiCo announced its goal in 2010."

Every bottle and can recycled supports PepsiCo's initiative with The Nature Conservancy to protect drinking water resources. Additionally, PepsiCo provides dedicated support to further the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities' mission to provide training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities.

Since Recycle Rally launched in 2010, more than 900 schools and 500,000 students across 35 states have recycled more than 45 million beverage containers. The U.S. beverage container recycling rate is currently at 42% according to the American Beverage Association. PepsiCo continues to work on bringing broader, more efficient recycling to communities nationwide.