RECYCLED CONTENT, TO GO
Starbucks has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Mississippi River Corp., a Starbucks supply chain member, approval to use recycled content in its paper hot beverage cups. Mississippi River Corp. says it is the first company to receive such approval.
Starbucks expects to convert its hot beverage cups to 10 percent recycled content following testing. By incorporating recycled content, Starbucks expects to decrease its dependence on tree fiber by more than 5 million pounds annually.
Jim Donald, Starbucks CEO designate, says the company hopes to convert to the recycled-content cups at its company-operated retail stores throughout the United States by the end of the calendar year.
"Being able to use post-consumer recycled content hot beverage cups is an important milestone for Starbucks in addressing the environmental impact associated with our paper-buying practices," Donald says. "We will continue to explore ways to include recycled content in all Starbucks-branded paper goods in our stores."
Starbucks collaborated for more than two years with its suppliers Solo Cup Co., MeadWestvaco and Mississippi River Corp. to obtain FDA approval.
OVER YOUR HEAD
Armstrong World Industries, headquartered in Lancaster, Pa., reports that it has diverted more than 20 million square feet of acoustical ceiling tiles from landfills through its recycling program.
Since Armstrong, the country’s largest producer of ceiling tiles, introduced the recycling program in 1999, it has reclaimed enough tiles to cover 349 football fields. This total also represents nearly 7,100 tons of construction waste that normally would have been dumped in landfills.
The program enables building owners to ship old ceilings—even if they were not manufactured by Armstrong—from renovation projects to an Armstrong ceiling plant for recycling. Armstrong pays the freight costs for the tiles, which it uses to manufacture new ceilings.
Armstrong also presented a special environmental award to Nike Inc. and the architectural firm of Thompson Vaivoda & Associates of Portland, Ore., in recognition of Nike’s ceiling tile recycling efforts. The company recently recycled more than 100,000-square-feet of old ceiling tiles at its Beaverton, Ore., headquarters.
The discarded tiles were shipped to the Armstrong ceiling plant in nearby St. Helens, Ore., which is the destination for all ceiling tiles collected on the West Coast.
"Environmental consciousness guides all aspects of our business, including facilities," Jim Petsche, director of corporate facilities at Nike, says.
Reading, Writing and Recycling
The Scattergood Friends School, near West Branch, Iowa, has been awarded the 2004 Best School Recycling Program prize by the Iowa Recycling Association (IRA).
Scattergood is a long-time customer of City Carton Recycling, Iowa City, Iowa, who nominated the school for the award.
Founded by the Society of Friends—also known as Quakers—in 1890, Scattergood’s award-winning program encompasses reuse and composting in addition to traditional recycling.
Material for composting is collected while preparing and cleaning up after school meals, and recycled paper is used on a daily basis in classrooms and offices.
The school van makes weekly trips to City Carton’s Iowa City plant to drop off recyclables including glass, metals, paper, bottles and cans.
Each of the 80 students and teachers at Scattergood recycles and composts about five pounds of material every week, which adds up to about 10.5 tons of material recycled per year.
In addition to recycling, Scattergood maintains a certified organic farm. The 80-acre farm was established in 1944 and has supplied the school with more than 3,500 pounds of organic produce since then.
Scattergood Friends School Interim Director Jan Luchini accepted the award for the school at IRA’s annual conference in Sioux City, Iowa, in September.
Explore the January 2005 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
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