Municipal Recycling

AMERICANS CONTINUE TO SUPPORT RECYCLING

Americans remain strongly committed to recycling and the buying of recycled products, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), Alexandria, Va. The survey of 2,000 Americans also determined that although respondents want to buy more recycled content products, they aren’t sure how to do so.

Eighty-nine percent of the 2,000 polled said they bought recycled products a few times a year or more, with slightly more than 42% saying they buy recycled more than once per week.  Those aged 25 to 34 were the most likely to buy recycled products, with 93% buying recycled at least a few times per year.  Men and women are equally likely to buy recycled products.

Respondents who bought recycled products a few times per year were most likely to buy paper products (63.8%), plastics (29.2%), aluminum beverage cans (19.3%), bags (8.6%), and steel food cans (6.4%).

“Because I can’t find recycled content products” was the leading reason (24.0%) given by those respondents who answered that they either like to buy recycled products, but don’t buy as many as they would like, or are not particularly interested in purchasing recycled products.

DALLAS RECYCLER HONORED

The Keep Dallas Beautiful organization presented its 1997 Environmental Excellence Award to Community Waste Disposal Inc. (CWD) of Dallas for its recycling and solid waste reduction operations.

CWD, which has been processing municipal recyclables since 1992, has contracts with nine communities in the Dallas area. Among the commodities collected by CWD are tin, aluminum, glass and plastic containers, as well as newspapers, phone books, magazines and catalogs. The company’s ability to accept six different types of plastic containers (PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP and the catch-all number 7 category) allows CWD to have one of the most extended recyclable lists in north Texas.

CWD claims an average monthly collection rate of 30 pounds of commodities per household.

TEXAS TO TRACK RECYCLING RATE

In 1998, Texas will begin to track recycling rates when the Recycling Coalition of Texas (RCT), Austin, launches the first “Texas Recycling Rate Project.”

“Having a reliable estimate of how much we recycle – and how much could be recycled – will help those of us in the business have the information we need to do our jobs better,” says Ben Walker, RCT president and southwest regional manager of the Steel Recycling Institute. “And what that means for Texans is that their recycling programs can be run more efficiently and perhaps expanded, or that new collection programs can be established.”

RCT will send recycling rate surveys early this year to companies and public institutions that handled at least 600 tons of recyclables generated in Texas in 1997. Recyclables tracked will run the gamut, from common curbside collectibles like aluminum and steel cans to yard trimmings, food materials, and construction and demolition debris.

“Governments in other states have set up mandatory reporting processes for recycling and have had huge legislative battles over this issue,” says Walker. “The beauty of this Texas project is that it’s completely voluntary, precludes government from having to set up rules, and comprehensively addresses the needs of the public and private sectors of the recycling industry.”

Recycling in Texas creates 20,000 jobs and contributes $3 billion to the economy, according to a 1996 survey conducted by Roy F. Weston, Inc. for the Southern States Waste Management Coalition. However, these figures represent processing and manufacturing alone and do not include collection.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATOR WANTS PLASTICS ACTION

A legislator in the California General Assembly has introduced a bill that would hold manufacturers of plastic containers responsible for reducing plastic packaging waste.

Assembly Bill 2555 was introduced by Dion Aroner of Berkeley, Calif. in February. Aroner says the bill may be one of the only ways to ensure that California meets its plastic recycling goals—part of the state’s effort to cut overall waste disposal in half by the year 2000.

Stating that “plastics recycling continues to stagnate,” Rick Best, policy director of Californians Against Waste, adds “It’s about time that the plastics industry steps up and takes some responsibility to support plastics recycling.”