BEAR/Multi-Stakeholder
Recovery Project Report
Will 2002 be remembered as the year that industry and environmentalists
came together and produced a report that broke through long standing
biases and allowed cost-effective new and expanded deposit systems
to be implemented? This may be the outcome of the BEAR/Multi-Stakeholder
Recovery Project report!
The BEAR/MSRP process produced a report, Understanding Beverage
Container Recycling: A Value Chain Assessment, which was unveiled
January 16, 2002 at the annual National Recycling Coalition Congress
in Seattle.
We believe this report is historic. It can give environmentalists,
elected officials and policymakers the data they need – from
an unimpeachable source – to close the case for deposits.
This summary briefs you with the KEY POINTS arising from the
report. The complete report is available at www.globalgreen.org/bear
and can be linked too from www.grrn.org/beverage/deposits/index,
a site that also has information on model deposit systems.
WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE THIS REPORT?
· It was produced under the watchful eyes of both the
beverage industry and environmentalists (see ‘Who Produced
the Report,’ below)
· The data were gathered by leading researchers who often
work for the beverage industry.
· It provides a fact-based foundation on which to develop
a beverage container recycling system that will double the current
beverage container recycling rate to 80% and be cost-efficient
for the beverage industry.
· It draws attention to the problem of declining beverage
container recycling rates and increased wasting.
· It provides hard numbers that confirm the superior performance
of deposit/return programs, over curbside recycling and drop-off
collection.
· It identifies revenues that can offset the cost of deposit
programs: money from the sale of the used bottles and cans and
deposit money left in the system by consumers who choose not to
return their containers for refunds (unredeemed deposits)
· It shows how when these revenues are factored in, deposit
programs are less costly than curbside programs -- at no cost
to local taxpayers.
· It shows that some deposit programs have discovered
cost-saving features that increase efficiency and reduce costs
over traditional deposit programs (e.g. eliminate sorting by brand
through a common fund, open up the system to other return centers
besides retail stores, use automated reverse vending machines
for container returns.)
IF YOU LIVE IN A DEPOSIT STATE/Columbia MO:
· The report confirms the effectiveness of your program,
showing how much more effective it is than curbside programs or
drop-off collection;
· The report points the way to possible ‘tweaking’
that could be done if necessary to make the program less costly
to the beverage industry
IF YOU LIVE IN A NON-DEPOSIT STATE:
· The report shows how much better you could be doing:
up to 80% recycling rather than your current recovery
· The report suggests that your timing is good: your state
can now benefit from new information to design a program that
is both effective and economical to operate
* Hawaii’s bottle bill – HB 1256 – has been designed
to include all the key elements identified in the BEAR report.
WHO PRODUCED THE REPORT?
BEAR (Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling)
was formed nearly 2 years ago by businesses who needed more PET
bottles to use in manufacturing carpetand environmentalists who
wanted to reduce the waste of beverage containers. BEAR made a
commitment to determine strategies capable of achieving 80% recovery
of beverage containers for recycling.
In May of 2002, BEAR became a project of Global Green USA: GG
is a group affiliated with Gorbachev’s Green Cross International,
which tries to bring people together to foster a global value
shift toward a sustainable and secure future
The first stage in BEAR’s work was the Multi-Stakeholder
Recovery Project (MSRP): an effort to use a fact-based process
to achieve consensus on strategies to achieve BEAR’s goal
of 80% container recycling.
The MSRP Task Force included Coca-Cola North America; their plastic
bottle making cooperative, Southeastern Container; Waste Management,
Inc.; Beaulieu of America (maker of carpet with recycled PET plastic
bottles); Tomra North America (maker of reverse vending machines);
and the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance. Environmentalists
were represented by Grassroots Recycling Network and the Container
Recycling Institute.
The MSRP retained a team of leading consultants to carry out
research that was ultimately published in the Understanding Beverage
Container Recycling report. The authors are: R.W. Beck (lead consultant
group), Franklin & Associates , Tellus Institute, and Sound
Resource Management.
WHAT DID THE REPORT SAY?
Beverage container recycling rates in the U.S. are down, wasting
is up.
Ø 78 billion beverage containers (277 per capita) recycled
in 1999
Ø 114 billion beverage cans and bottles (407 per capita)
not recycled in 1999
Ø only 41% of containers sold are recycled, the rest are
wasted.
Beverage container recycling has environmental benefits.
Ø Avoided greenhouse gas emissions
Ø Energy savings
Ø Avoided landfill space
Deposit systems get the best results.
Ø Deposits: 422 containers per capita recycled in the
10 deposit states,
373 containers per capita recycled in California
Ø Curbside:127 containers per capita recycled in the 40
non-deposit states
Ø Residential drop-offs: 31 containers recycled per capita
in non-deposit states
Beverage container recovery has a net cost that must be covered
by some type of funding mechanism.
Ø Deposit programs (including California): funded by producers
and consumers
Ø Curbside programs: funded by local governments and taxpayers
Net costs per container recovered in 1999 (including revenue
from sale of scrap material)
Ø Traditional Deposit Programs: 2.21 cents
Ø California Deposit Program: 0.55 cents
Ø Curbside Programs: 1.72 cents
Ø Residential Drop-Off Programs: 0.30 cents
When unredeemed deposits are used to cover costs in deposit programs,
net costs are as follows:
Ø Traditional Deposit Programs: 0.80 cents
Ø California Deposit Programs: (0.43) cents (profit)
Ø Curbside Programs: 1.72 cents
Ø Residential Drop-Off Programs: 0.30 cents
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