[Timber Loftis]

Yeah, YOU!
_______________________________________

No. 105
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 Page A-8
ISSN 1521-9402
News

Solid Waste
Aluminum Can Recycling Rate Drops
Despite Increased Curbside Collections


The national recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans has dropped by at least 15 percentage points over the past eight years, from a high of 65 percent, industry and environmental groups told BNA June 1.
The Container Recycling Institute (CRI), a group that promotes waste reduction, reported a recycling rate of 44 percent in 2003, the lowest aluminum can recycling rate in the past 25 years, according to Pat Franklin, CRI executive director.

The Aluminum Association, an industry group, found a 50 percent recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans in 2003, according to association spokesman Patrick Kelly.

The two rates differ because the industry association includes imported aluminum, while CRI's rate does not, Kelly said. The institute said the methodology used by the Aluminum Association inflates the rate because it includes imported scrap cans.

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency said the aluminum can recycling rate in the United States was 49 percent in 2001, the last year for which the agency had complete statistics.


Nearly 100 Billion Cans Produced in 2003

In the United States, 99.7 billion aluminum cans were produced in 2003, with 49.9 billion of these recycled, some 1.48 billion pounds, according to a statement by the Aluminum Association Inc., the Can Manufacturers Institute, and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.
For 22 out of 23 years, the rate has equaled or exceeded 50 percent, the three industry groups said in the May 21 statement, adding that the aluminum beverage can is 100 percent recyclable back into new cans indefinitely.

The groups said the aluminum can is "by far" the most recycled consumer beverage package in the United States, amounting to twice the recycling rate for beverage packages of other materials.

The statement said the aluminum industry paid about $800 million for the used aluminum beverage cans.

According to CRI, about 1 trillion cans have been thrown out instead of recycled since 1972, when the industry started keeping records. This amount weighs about 17.5 million tons, a quantity of scrap aluminum worth about $21 billion at today's market prices.

"The cumulative environmental damage from the failure to recycle this metal is the real issue," Franklin said in a CRI statement May 24. "Very few Americans realize that while we are trashing millions of tons of cans that could be used to make new cans, multinational companies like Alcoa and Alcan are forging ahead to build brand new aluminum smelters in pristine environments all over the world."

Jenny Gitlitz, CRI research director, said in the statement, "Over the last four decades, the damages from aluminum manufacturing and associated infrastructure include thousands of square miles of habitat loss on every major continent, the displacement of tens of thousands of indigenous people, and the emission of tens of millions of tons of greenhouse gasses and other toxic air and water pollutants."

"We're calling on the beverage companies to step forward and do something to stop the problem," Franklin told BNA June 1. "We think there's a very simple answer working in 10 states: Put a mandatory deposit on [the beverage containers] to provide a financial incentive to recycle."

Gitlitz told BNA that recycling rates for states that have implemented mandatory beverage container deposit laws range from 70 percent to 95 percent. Michigan has the highest recycling rate, 95 percent, because it has a mandated a 10 cents recycling redemption incentive for aluminum, glass, and beverage containers, compared to the typical 5 cents per container deposit, Gitlitz said.

An 11th state, Hawaii, which enacted a beverage container deposit or so-called "bottle bill," in 2002, will begin implementing the law in January 2005, Gitlitz said.


Federal Legislation

A federal bottle bill would provide an even better boost to the recycling rate, according to CRI.
The organization supports legislation proposed by Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) in November 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 (220 DEN A-3, 11/14/03) .

"If a federal bottle bill were passed, it would certainly solve our problems a lot more quickly," Gitlitz said, adding that a national bottle bill could achieve a recycling rate of up to 90 percent.

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.

To increase the recycling rate, a number of municipalities have initiated curbside recycling programs. In fact, their number has tripled from 1990 to 2001, Gitlitz said. Despite this, she said, the aluminum can recycling rate has still declined.

Gitlitz attributed the declining rate to several factors. More people consume beverages in cans while away from home, so even if they have recycling bins, they do not use them, she said. In addition, she said, scrap values have not kept up with recycling.

Also the use of industry-sponsored "buyback centers" have been largely discontinued as the use of curbside recycling has risen. The value of the 5-cent deposit also has not kept pace with inflation, she added.


Industry Opposes Mandatory Deposits

Kelly said the industry supports voluntary efforts to increase recycling but not mandatory deposit laws.
"Our members are not in favor of deposit legislation because it does not benefit aluminum over other packages," he told BNA.

State mandatory deposit laws and pending federal legislation do not distinguish between deposit fees for aluminum, glass, and plastic beverage containers, Kelly said. Because aluminum is more valuable than these other materials, he said, the mandates do not "reflect the true value of the can."

The reason for the recycling rate decline "is a question we've been asking ourselves," Kelly said. He speculated that perhaps people are less concerned about environmental issues than they were three decades ago.

Kelly said the Aluminum Association has encouraged voluntary efforts through public service announcements, a charitable recycling program with Habitat for Humanity, and a pilot curbside program in three areas--Orlando, Fla., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Brevard County, Fla.--to promote and coordinate efforts by local governments, waste haulers, and consumers for curbside recycling.

By Linda Roeder