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Last
modified:
March 23, 2019
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GRRN
Statement
Beverage Container
Recycling -
Multi-Stakeholder Report Shows Ways to
Cut Costs, Improve Performance
A
new report on beverage container recycling suggests that we can double
recovery of beverage containers - and save money at the same time.
These are the unexpected findings of Understanding Beverage Container
Recycling: A Value Chain Assessment, a study carried out under the
watchful eyes of both beverage industry and environmental representatives. |
This ground-breaking
study, to be released on January 16, 2002, is the first accomplishment
of the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project (MSRP), a project of Businesses
and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR). BEAR works under Global
Green USA to pursue a 'fact-based approach to public policy making' in
order to break through the traditional impasse between supporters and
opponents of so-called 'bottle bills.' BEAR formed in response to a consumer
campaign organized by the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN) to get the
beverage industry to take responsibility for the escalating problem of
beverage container waste.
Coca-Cola North America,
Waste Management Inc. and other stakeholders sponsored and participated
in the study, which was written by a team of leading consultants: RW Beck,
Franklin Associates, Tellus and Sound Resource Management Group. GRRN
has been a full, active participant in the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery
Project, both through the MSRP Task Force and on the BEAR Executive Committee.
After nearly a year
of work, GRRN is pleased that this group of key business and environmental
stakeholders is still committed to reaching a common understanding of
the problems caused by beverage container wasting as well as opportunities
for innovative solutions. The participants are committed to identifying
economically and socially viable strategies for moving towards GRRN's
ultimate vision of zero waste and a sound economy.
Phase I of the MSRP
has culminated in the publishing of the report, which documents the state
of beverage container recycling in the United States in 1999 and provides
an assessment of the key strategies available to reach BEAR's 80 percent
container recovery goal.
The report points
to a modified deposit/return system as a cost-effective means of achieving
or exceeding 80 percent beverage container recovery. Such a system (which
is unlike traditional deposit/return systems in that it does not require
sorting by brand name or return exclusively to retail) would achieve container
recovery rates four times higher than curbside collection. Further, it
could operate at no expense to taxpayers, being financed instead by a
combination of revenues from the sale of container materials and un-refunded
deposits that have been forfeited by consumers who choose not to recycle.
While such a deposit/return
system does not achieve zero waste of beverage containers in the short
term, it creates a universal infrastructure for the return of containers
and encourages beverage producers to move to more sustainable beverage
container design and management systems, such as the use of refillable
bottles and recyclable materials.
As Stage I of the
MSRP concludes, attention will now turn to Stage II which will focus on
finding strategies for achieving BEAR's 80 percent recovery goal. Although
the report makes no recommendations about future strategies, GRRN believes
the report provides clear evidence that a financial incentive system is
necessary to reach that goal and that the modified deposit/return system
is the most effective strategy for achieving it.
GRRN believes two key issues should be made a priority as BEAR begins
to develop a framework for Stage II:
- Producer responsibility.
As the party in the value chain with the greatest control over package
design and product marketing, the brand-owner (party whose brand appears
on the beverage container) should be ultimately responsible for meeting
the 80% recovery goal.
- Incentives for
refillables.
The report did not analyze the value chain of a well-developed refillable
bottle system. Refillables are an important zero waste strategy because
they are far more energy and resource efficient than traditional one-way
containers and they stimulate local economic growth and enable local
manufacturers to more effectively complete for beverage market share.
GRRN believes that
a modified redemption system should have the following core features:
- 80% recovery
goal. The program should establish a mandatory goal of 80% material
recovery, consistent with BEAR core principles:
- The recovery
goal should cover all types of beverages (all carbonated and non-carbonated
beverages such as soft drinks, beer, wine, liquor, juices, waters,
and milk) and all types of beverage containers (all metal, glass,
plastic, aseptic and composite containers), as well as associated
packaging
- The recovery
goal should be based upon container units sold, excluding exported
new containers and imported scrap containers.
- The recovery
goal should focus on material recovery (reuse and recycling) and
should not include burning (waste-to-energy, pyrolysis, etc.) or
other treatments to produce fuel.
- The recovery
goal should be achieved on an aggregate basis over a 2-year period
from program implementation, but should ultimately apply as a minimum
for each material type.
- The recovery
goal should increase over time to ensure that the recovery rate
continually improves.
- Consumer redemption
incentive. The program should establish a redemption incentive (deposit
refund or other financial mechanism) paid to consumers when the container
is recycled to encourage recycling.
- Beverage container
returns.
Returns of beverage containers should be allowed through a variety of
options, ensuring consumer convenience while minimizing costs.
- Internalization
of costs. The
cost of beverage container recovery should be internalized, with producers
and consumers paying the full cost of recovering their containers, and
no part of the cost
being borne by the public.
- Refillables
incentive. A redemption system should include incentives for the
use of refillable bottles, such as economic incentives and market share
set-asides.
A return to the refillable packaging systems developed by the beverage
industry in the early 20th Century and later dismantled in response
to subsidies that made mass-production and long-distance distribution
more economical will create opportunities for local business and reduce
environmental costs that are now being borne by the public.
- Closed-loop
recycling. A deposit system should encourage bottle-into-bottle
recycling in order to reduce environmentally damaging emissions from
virgin material extraction and production and minimize market disruptions
during periods of rapid increase in container recovery.
- Centralized
fund.
Since the program would involve all beverage brands, it may be more
cost-efficient to be managed through a centralized fund similar to the
industry-managed fund in British Columbia or the state-managed fund
in California, so brand sorting is not necessary.
- Responsibility
for compliance.
As the party in the value chain with control over packaging design and
product marketing, the brand-owner should be ultimately responsible
for meeting the 80% recovery goal and ensuring that the members of the
supply chain and consumers share responsibility for the cost of recycling.
Government would impose corrective measures should the system fail to
perform.
- System design
flexibility.
The overall program design would depend upon whether it was managed
by government or beverage producers (see key issues discussion below);
however, producers should be given flexibility to design the system
in a manner which minimizes costs. Producers may choose to operate their
own programs or to contract with other private or public entities on
their behalf, so long as the so long as the full costs of recovering
the resources and managing products at the end of life are internalized
into the costs of producing and selling products and are not borne by
taxpayers.
- Market development.
Producers should be encouraged to actively participate in development
of value-added markets for recovered containers.
The GrassRoots Recycling
Network is a North American network of waste reduction activists and professionals
promoting producer responsibility and Zero Waste as critical elements
of a sustainable economy. GRRN was founded in 1995 by members of the Sierra
Club, California Resource Recovery Association, and Institute for Local
Self-Reliance.
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