WHEREAS, the City of West Hollywood is committed to implementing citywide recycling to save taxpayers money and help reduce waste that would otherwise go to landfills; and

WHEREAS, West Hollywood has sought to create new markets for products made from recyclable materials and supports programs that educate the public on reducing the waste stream ; and

WHEREAS, the Miller Brewing Company And Anhauser Busch has recently began to testmarket a new, plastic beer bottle that does not conform to the current recycling systems in place; and

WHEREAS, this new, plastic bottle is made up of the same material, polyethelyene terephalate (PET), that soda containers use; and

WHEREAS, the bottle design developed by Continental PET Technologies Inc. could incorporate 25%-40% recycled content in the plastic bottle used in the testmarkets, but the Miller Company and Anhauser Busch has failed to incorporate recycled content into the bottle and has not committed to using recycled content in the future; and

WHEREAS, Plastic Redesign Project has conducted preliminary evaluations of this plastic bottle and has identified the following potential adverse impacts:

1. the use of an oxygen barrier layer may contaminate the recycled PET resin stream,
2. the use of a metal cap is extremely difficult to remove during processing,
3. the use of a metalized label is extremely difficult to remove during processing,
4. the use of amber tine PET must be separated from the clear and green PET streams at an additional cost; and

WHEREAS, the widespread introduction of this bottle could potentially undermine the current PET recycling system by introducing contaminants to the recycled PET resin stream, increase processing costs for curbside programs, recycling centers, and plastics processors, and increase the supply of post-consumer PET without addressing the demand for postconsumer PET; and

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of West Hollywood has historically supported measures to protect the environment and to bolster recycling efforts; and

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of West Hollywood resolves to protest the use of a new, plastic beer container that cannot be recycled due to its design and appeals to all beverage companies to address these recycling issues.

PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED THIS 19^TH DAY OF APRIL OF 1999.

___________________________________ MAYOR

ATTEST:

________________________________

CITY CLERK

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