1Container Recycling Institute 2006 Potomac Watershed Trash Summit Washington, DC March 16, 2006 There ’ s Treasure in the Trash Pat Franklin Executive Director Container Recycling Institute

2Container Recycling Institute 2006 Rock Creek, Montgomery County

3Container Recycling Institute 2006

4 Plastic Beverage Bottles as a Percent of Total Debris: Potomac Watershed Cleanup The 108,575 recyclable plastic bottles (10,000 pounds) collected during the 2004 spring cleanup accounted for 30% of all bagged trash collected. The 108,575 recyclable plastic bottles (10,000 pounds) collected during the 2004 spring cleanup accounted for 30% of all bagged trash collected. Source: Alice Ferguson Foundation, 2005

5Container Recycling Institute 2006 Beverage Containers – 28% of Marine Debris in U.S International Coastal Cleanup 72% 28% Source: 2004 International Coastal Cleanup, The Ocean Conservancy United States

6Container Recycling Institute 2006 All Beverage Containers as a Percent of Waterway Debris in Kentucky: % Source: Litter in Kentucky, A View from the Field, Solid Waste Coordinators of Kentucky (SWaCK) Beverage containers, carriers, tops and pull tabs represented 50% of total waterway debris in SWaCK Study

7Container Recycling Institute 2006  Litter taxes What are our options for reducing litter?  Recycling programs  Container deposit laws

8Container Recycling Institute 2006 Litter taxes fund litter pickups and public relations campaigns… an approach that’s like mopping up the floor while the sink is overflowing, instead of turning the spigot off. Litter Taxes

9Container Recycling Institute 2006 After 35 years and millions of dollars in public relations campaign expenses…… Iron Eyes Cody is still crying!

10Container Recycling Institute 2006 Recycling Programs Despite tremendous growth in curbside recycling in the 1990’s beverage container litter and debris has actually increased.

11Container Recycling Institute 2006 Curbside Recycling has not Curbed Beverage Container Coastal Debris Sources: Ocean Conservancy, U.S. Bureau of the Census, BioCycle. * Note: 2000 curbside access rate is an estimate based on prior year. Estimate

12Container Recycling Institute 2006 Container Deposit Law States Oregon Vermont Michigan Maine Iowa Connecticut Massachusetts Delaware New York California Hawaii

13Container Recycling Institute 2006 Beverage Containers Recycled Per Capita in the United States Units Source: Table ES-1, “Understanding Beverage Container Recycling: A Value Chain Assessment Prepared for the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project,” Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR), per capita 490 per capita

14Container Recycling Institute 2006 Total Annual Recovery (billions of units) Per Capita Recovery (units) % of Total US Annual Recovery Cents Per Unit 40 Non-deposit States (71% of US Population) % Deposit States (29% of US Population) %1.53 (a) Includes revenues from material sales; does not include the forfeited deposit value of unredeemed containers. (a) Includes revenues from material sales; does not include the forfeited deposit value of unredeemed containers. Source: Table ES-1, “Understanding Beverage Container Recycling: A Value Chain Assessment Prepared for the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project,” Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR), Container Recycling Scorecard

15Container Recycling Institute 2006 Litter Reduction After Passage of Container Deposit Legislation State and Source of Data Beverage Container Litter Reduction Total Litter Reduction New York (Temp State Commission 1985 ) 70-80%30% Oregon (OR DEQ 1982) 83%47% Vermont (US GAO 1977) 76%35% Maine (US GAO 1980 ) 69-77%34-64% Michigan (MI DOT 1979) 84%41% Iowa (IA DOT 1980) 76%39%

16Container Recycling Institute 2006 Beverage Containers as a Percent of Coastal Debris in States with CDL  Michigan, with a 10-cent deposit, has the lowest percentage of beverage container litter of all eleven CDL states  With the exception of New York, all 7 CDL states were well below the national average of 18% Source: CRI calculations based on 2004 International Coastal Cleanup data

17Container Recycling Institute 2006 Refundable Deposits Work  They provide a disincentive to litter.  They provide an incentive to recycle and to pick up bottles and cans that are littered.  They stop litter at the source.

18Container Recycling Institute 2006 We can do something about beverage container litter today!

19Container Recycling Institute 2006 They will thank us tomorrow!

20Container Recycling Institute 2006 Visit us on the web at: and Container Recycling Institute 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC TEL: FAX: CRI is a nonprofit research and public education organization that studies and promotes alternatives for reducing container and packaging waste.