Beverage Container Recycling Summit Nov Blue Mountain Lake, NY The State of Wasting and Recycling Beverage Containers in America Jennifer Gitlitz, Research Director
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Rates
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Rates
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Rates
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Rates
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Apparent Paradox: Growing Curbside Recycling, Shrinking Recycling Rate 1990: 2,711 curbside programs 37 million people served 15% of U.S. population 2002: 8,875 curbside programs 139 million people served 49% of U.S. population
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Beverage Containers Sold, Recycled and Wasted in the U.S., Sales: 42% increase Wasting: 87% increase Recycling: 3% decrease
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Reasons for the Increase in Beverage Container Waste 1.Growth in beverage sales (units sold) 2.Growth in sales of “new age” beverages not covered by existing deposit laws (except in Maine & CA) 3.Increase in away-from-home consumption 4.Increase in contamination of recyclables collected through curbside recycling--esp. glass 5.Declining value of nickel deposit in bottle bill states and declining value of scrap aluminum cans in non- bottle bill states
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Composition of U.S. PET Bottles Available for Recycling, Note: Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) percentage plus Custom Container percentage adds up to 100%. iPET (individual) includes both CSD and Custom. Source: NAPCOR, Oct
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 U.S. PET Bottled Water Sales (billions of units)
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Beverage Container Recycling/Redemption Rates in Selected Deposit States and Nationally, *
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Chart derived from Consumer Price Index Declining Value of a Nickel: 1971–2001
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 Keeping pace with inflation: Hypothetical deposit value based on a 1971 nickel
© Container Recycling Institute, 2004 U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Rates