January 6, 2005

Solid Waste Beverage Container Waste Sets Record
As Some Recycling Rates Fall, Institute Says
Linda Roeder

A record 131 billion beverage containers in 2004 were dumped, destined to become litter, or sent as trash to landfills or incinerators, instead of being recycled, according to the Container Recycling Institute.

Can and bottle waste is rising, while recycling rates are holding steady or declining, according to the institute. By contrast, 66 billion beverage containers were recycled in 2004, CRI estimates.

The environmental impacts of trashing instead of recycling beverage containers is significant, Jenny Gitlitz, the institute's research director, told BNA Jan. 5. CRI is a nonprofit organization that studies and promotes costs and policies related to disposal and recycling aluminum, plastic, and glass beverage containers.

"Had these 131 billion bottles and cans been recycled, the energy equivalent of 35 million barrels of crude oil could have been saved," Gitlitz told BNA. More than 4.5 million tons of greenhouse gases also were emitted in the process of manufacturing the containers using virgin materials, "and a host of toxic pollutants were released to the air and water."

She compared the number of beverage containers "wasted," that is, not recycled, to previous years. In 2003, she said, an estimated 127 billion containers were wasted, and an estimated 66 billion were recycled. In 2002, she said, 121 billion were wasted, while 70 billion were recycled.

These estimates reflect a big increase in waste from the early 1990s, she told BNA. For example, she said, in 1990, about 72 billion containers were wasted, while 67 billion were recycled. In 1992, she said, 67 billion units were wasted, but 76 billion units, more than half, were recycled, a period when recycling rates were the highest for all materials, Gitlitz told BNA.

By 2004, she said, about two-thirds of the 197 billion containers consumed were wasted instead of recycled.

Plastic Waste on the Rise

About one-half of all the beverages sold in the United States come in aluminum containers, while the rest is split between plastic and glass, she said. The plastic share, however, is steadily increasing.

In terms of tons, Gitlitz said, in 1990, about 476,000 tons of containers made from "PET," polyethylene terephthalate, a type of plastic container, were sold, while 116,000 of these were recycled and 359,000 were wasted. In 2003, Gitlitz said, 1.76 million tons were sold. Of these, 377,000 tons were recycled, while about 1.38 million tons were wasted.

In 1990, Gitlitz continued, 1.52 million tons of aluminum cans were sold. Of this, 926,000 tons were recycled, and 594,000 went to waste. In 2003, she said, nearly 1.47 million cans were sold, 653,000 were recycled, and 820,000 were wasted, "the worst record ever," Gitlitz said.

The Aluminum Association, however, found a 50 percent recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans in 2003, because it included imported scrap cans. The aluminum industry paid about $800 million for the used aluminum beverage cans (105 DEN A-8, 6/2/04).

The amount of waste has increased faster than the recycling rate has declined, according to Gitlitz. She attributed the increase to a surge in sales of beverage containers reflected in a per capita increase in consumption. Most of the increase has been in plastic bottles, primarily water containers, which continue to rise, she said.

Trash Away From Home

In addition, she said, even though curbside recycling programs have increased, consumers may rely on them less because they consume more beverages away from home. People commute longer distances and eat more meals and snacks away from home, she said, adding there are not enough opportunities for recycling away from home. Local governments also lack the money to promote their curbside recycling programs, Gitlitz said.

Pat Franklin, CRI executive director, attributed the decline in recycling to a lack of opportunities and lack of incentives to recycle.

"Those glass, aluminum, and plastic containers ... could have been used to make new cans or bottles, fleece jackets, carpets, and a myriad of other items," she said in a statement.

CRI has promoted bottle bills in the states and nationally. Ten states, including California, Michigan, and New York, have bottle bills in place, and an eleventh state, Hawaii, will begin implementing a new law this month.

Beverage container recycling rates in the 10 states range from 69 percent to 95 percent, Gitlitz said. These states pull up the national rates, because in states without such laws beverage container recycling rates average just a little more than 20 percent. According to CRI, Michigan has the highest recycling rate, 95 percent, because it has mandated a 10-cent recycling redemption incentive for aluminum and glass beverage containers, compared to the typical 5 cents per-container deposit.

"We're in a crisis here. From the evidence we've seen so far, deposit laws are the best" ways to increase the recycling rate, Gitlitz said. "We would like to see a national deposit law, but to achieve that we need a critical mass of state laws first."

Ironically, there is no lack of markets for the materials, but rather a lack of supply, Franklin said. She said dozens of companies rely on post-consumer bottles and cans as feedstocks to make new containers or their products, but they cannot get the containers.

"The containers are not getting from the consumer to the recycling businesses," she said. "Some of those companies may go out of business if they can't get an adequate supply of scrap materials."

Some companies that use recycled containers for feedstocks rely on the 10 states with deposit laws for clean, sorted material that often must be shipped long distances, Gitlitz said.

To increase recycling practices and promote legislation, she said, CRT intends to reach out this year to groups that have not traditionally been involved in recycling issues, such as hunters and fishermen affected by litter. In addition, she said, CRI will turn to church groups to hold fund-raising bottle and can drives, and to government groups that can affect public policy.

CRI supported legislation proposed by Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) in 2003 to set a 10-cent deposit on beverage containers and require the beverage industry to develop a system with an 80 percent recycling rate. Soft drink manufacturers, however, have opposed what they consider any form of forced container deposit, saying they are costly to the industry and add costs for consumers.