Coca-Cola to Start Recycling Plant
Coca-Cola has announced the opening of its bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in Spartanburg County, S.C., according to a report in the Spartanburg Herald Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.).
The facility was scheduled to open Jan. 14, according to the report.
The plant, said to be the largest of its kind in the world, will produce about 100 million pounds of food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic for reuse per year, or the equivalent of about 2 billion 20-ounce plastic Coke bottles.
Coca-Cola announced the $60 million investment in September 2007, saying it was part of the company’s long-term initiative to have 100 percent of its plastic bottles be recycled or reused.
The project is in partnership with Spartanburg-based United Resource Recovery Corp. and includes the new facility on a 30-acre site as well as a recycling center that collects used beverage containers.
Report Shows Increase in PET Bottle Recovery
The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), Sonoma, Calif., and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), Washington, D.C., have announced that 1.4 billion pounds of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles were collected for recycling in the U.S. in 2007, the highest collection volume recorded to date and a 10 percent increase from 2006.
The PET container recycling rate was 24.6 percent in 2007, which was the fourth year in a row the report showed an increase in the recycling rate.
Information for the report was obtained through surveys conducted by HDR Inc. and Moore Recycling Associates combined with data from NAPCOR, the PET Resin Association and the International Bottled Water Association.
The report also details the end markets for a record 900 million pounds of recycled PET used in domestic manufacturing applications.
Tom Busard, NAPCOR chairman and VP of global procurement and material systems, Plastipak Packaging Inc., says, "We are committed to working with our industry partners to promote and encourage the recycling of PET containers to meet the increased demand from the manufacturing applications that use recycled PET. The use of recycled feedstock supports a more sustainable, energy-efficient manufacturing chain with reduced greenhouse gas emissions."
The 2007 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity is available at www.recyclingtoday.com/news/images/NAPCOR2007PETReport.pdf.
Eco2 Plastics Receives Favorable FDA Opinion Letter
Eco2 Plastics Inc., San Francisco, has announced that it has received a favorable opinion letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it says affirms the effectiveness of its waterless cleaning process for recycling post-consumer plastic, allowing the company’s recycled plastic flake to be used in food packaging applications.
The FDA has deemed the Eco2 process effective at reducing contaminants that result in a dietary concentration below 0.5 parts per billion, the FDA’s threshold of regulatory concern. The FDA concludes that Eco2’s secondary recycling process would produce RPET of a purity suitable for use up to 100 percent in the manufacture of packaging that comes in contact with all food types.
GPI Sets 50 Percent Glass Recycling Level by 2013
The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), Alexandria, Va., has announced a goal of using at least 50 percent recycled glass to make new glass bottles and jars. The association hopes to reach the level by 2013.
"This is certainly a powerful statement by the glass industry about its intent to work with other stakeholders to improve cradle-to-cradle recycling," says Rich Crawford, chairman of GPI’s board and president of global glass operations for Owens-Illinois. "Like glass itself, this recycling goal is good for consumers and families as well as the environment."
"The glass container industry has been a leading advocate of improved recycling in California," says Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. "We applaud GPI for setting an ambitious goal to take comprehensive, pro-active steps to achieve a higher recovery rate nationally."
Joseph Cattaneo, GPI president, says, "Reuse of post-consumer recycled container glass is critical to our glass container industry and its environmental and energy efficiency goals. This cullet use is also an integral part of the cradle-to-cradle aspects of glass manufacturing. We are prepared to embrace all measures that efficiently and cost-effectively improve glass recovery."
Explore the February 2009 Issue
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