Style and Substance

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, D.C., began honoring manufacturers who keep recycling in mind when designing their products in 2005, though the association has promoted the Design for Recycling (DFR) concept for more than two decades. This voluntary program encourages manufacturers to consider the recyclability of their products at the end of their lives in the design phase. Since 2005, the association has recognized Hewlett-Packard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Herman Miller and, most recently, Coca-Cola.

According to ISRI, it established the Design for Recycling award to recognize companies or individuals whose products or program designs incorporate a reduction in the number of recyclable materials used, a reduction or elimination of hazardous materials, an increased yield of the products’ recyclables, an improvement in recycling safety or a design that allows for easy disassembly for recycling.

“DFR is a program that is trying to drive a more sustainable environment and economy,” says William Johnson, director of political and public affairs for ISRI.

FINDING THE MOTIVATION

Through the DFR awards, Johnson says, ISRI recognizes manufacturers with a corporate culture focused on reducing their environmental footprints. In the case of furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, environmental sustainability translates into economic sustainability, he says. Through recycling and reducing the number of materials used in its products, Herman Miller was able to reduce its costs, which made the company more competitive and positioned it to survive a number of economic downturns that took out its competitors, Johnson says.

Herman Miller, who ISRI recognized in 2009 with the DFR award, has sought to reduce the amount of waste it generates in addition to selecting plastics that can be easily recycled and have viable end markets. Johnson says the company also worked directly with recyclers to learn how its products were recycled. This collaboration led the company to change its assembly techniques to facilitate disassembly and recycling, he adds.

By incorporating DFR, manufacturers can realize a number of benefits that often have favorable effects on the company’s bottom line, such as finding less expensive materials that still meet performance metrics and decreasing pollution and energy consumption, Johnson says.

Often, to be successful, corporate leaders need to drive a company’s focus on DFR. “Once they are involved, it happens,” Johnson says of their leadership.

However, material substitution can occur with little thought to the end-of-life implications, as in the case of plastic gas tanks. Unlike aluminum or steel, plastic gas tanks absorb gasoline and cannot be recycled as a result, which was not an issue with metal tanks. According to Johnson, this is a good example of how manufacturers can benefit from working with recyclers to understand how a product is transformed back into raw materials.

Coca-Cola, the 2010 DFR award recipient, is an example of a best-case scenario related to material substitution in the form of the company’s PlantBottle, which contains up to 30 percent plant-based material made from molasses, a byproduct of sugar production, or from sugar cane juice.

GROWING GREENER

“The idea to start transforming or evolving PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic into a renewable material originated from our long-standing commitment to sustainable design,” says Scott Vitters, head of global sustainable packaging for Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co.

“For the past 10 years, we’ve been working to discover a way to completely decouple the plastic used in our bottles from oil without compromising the advances made in efficiency, recycling and product production,” he continues. “Instead of focusing on developing an entirely new renewable resin, we decided to leverage the existing value of PET plastic and make it even better. On discovering how to do this, it took approximately two years to launch PlantBottle into the market beginning in 2009.”

According to Coca-Cola, PET used to make the PlantBottle is the same as petroleum-based PET. “The difference is that we have been able to come up with a process that makes an existing component in PET using the sugar from plants,” he says. “Recyclers, including Coca-Cola’s own bottle-to-bottle recycling plants, will see absolutely no difference in the performance of the material. It is indistinguishable from existing petroleum-based PET bottles in the recycling stream and does not require any special handling.”

Vitters says Coca-Cola would like to replace petrochemical plastic resins for bottle production with “responsibly sourced, competitively priced plant-based materials that do not compete with food crops and are 100 percent recyclable.” He adds, “We have a goal to have all new PET used in our bottles contain up to 30 percent plant-based material by 2020.”

In 2010, the company will produce more than 2.5 billion bottles with up to 30 percent renewable plastic, Vitters says.

According to Coca-Cola, PlantBottles are 100 percent recyclable through existing recycling programs, unlike bottles made from PLA (polylactic acid). “PLA, along with other biodegradable resins, can be composted in industrial composting facilities but it is not recyclable in current recycling facilities,” Vitters says. “Given the recyclability of beverage containers, it actually is more environmentally preferable to recover the material and energy for use again.”

He continues, “While we do not think PLA is the right material for our bottles, we do think it makes sense for applications that are either not recyclable today or are typically collected with organic wastes, such as compostable food service fountain cups or disposable utensils.” Vitters adds, “The Coca-Cola Co. is committed to supporting recycling efforts, so by design, our PlantBottle packaging is recyclable rather than being compostable.”

Beyond recycling, the company also was concerned about the overall environmental sustainability of its PlantBottle and worked for more than a year to identify plants grown in select locations that could improve the environmental and social performance of its bottles, he says. “Working with environmental organizations and other partners, we have confidence in the improved carbon and energy performance being achieved by using Brazilian-grown sugar cane and molasses today.” Vitters continues, “We’re also working with partners to advance technologies that will allow the use of other plant materials for future generations of PlantBottle packaging. Possibilities could include components for PET made from cellulosic ethanol or the waste from plant products such as fruit skins, husks, stems and wood chips.”

When ISRI recognized Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle, it pointed out that there was “no difference in recyclability, chemical composition, shelf life, weight or appearance compared with traditional PET bottles.”

ISRI Chairman John Sacco, president of Bakersfield, Calif.-based Sierra Recycling and Demolition, noted during the May 8 awards ceremony during the closing general session at ISRI’s annual convention, “Coca-Cola has demonstrated dynamic leadership in package design, continually developing beverage containers that are effective, efficient and designed for recycling. The PlantBottle, Coca-Cola’s most recent innovation, utilizes renewable resources and is 100 percent recyclable. This new generation of PET plastic made partially from plants also is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the package—further demonstration of how design for recycling positively impacts the environment.”

The author is managing editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at dtoto@gie.net.