Nonmetallics Department

EDF CRITICIZES PLASTIC RECYCLING EFFORTS

Richard Denison, senior scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Washington, has issued a report that is highly critical of the optimistic proclamations of the American Plastics Council (APC), Washington, regarding plastics recycling. Denison claims the APC – and the research firm it hires to conduct its annual survey – "foils outsiders’ attempts to look at the real numbers," thus "making it impossible until well after the fact for an observer to ascertain whether the actual data warrant such rosy assessments."

The "rosy assessments" Denison refers to include statements regarding the plastic industry’s hard work toward recycling goals paying off and an introductory mention of the volume of plastic bottles recycled reaching an all-time high in 1996 -- though the percentage of plastic containers recycled decreased

Denison says that EDF’s own analysis shows that the U.S. plastic packaging recycling rate overall declined in 1996 to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent the year before. At the same time, Americans consumed 1 billion pounds more of plastic packaging in 1996 compared to 1995.

While the APC report does indeed include the optimistic phrases EDF’s Denison refers to, it also states that the low cost of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins has affected "the economics of recycling." The report also says plastics recycling programs should be "economically and environmentally responsible and sustainable" and that recycling "should not be considered an end unto itself."

VISTA BUYS TEXAS WEYERHAEUSER FACILITY

Vista Fibers, Dallas, has purchased the assets of a Weyerhaeuser Co. paper recycling facility in San Antonio, Texas. Vista will operate the 47,600-square-foot facility as a bulk grade plant in conjunction with the company’s MRF and high-grade paper facility in San Antonio. Vista also operates processing facilities in Dallas, Houston, and Lubbock, Texas, and New Orleans. In San Antonio, the company serves haulers and also processes material collected through the city’s curbside collection program.