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Talking Points
The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act...
- Requires the beverage industry to recover 80% of the beverage
containers sold in the state.
- Won’t use taxpayer dollars – will actually save
taxpayers money.
- Creates jobs.
- Will reduce energy-related pollution that causes acid rain,
smog, and global climate change.
- Reduces litter and the burden on landfills.
The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act won’t take a penny
of taxpayers’ dollars – it will actually save taxpayer
dollars.
- Throwaway beverage containers are a burden on taxpayers. When
deposits are required on beverage containers, twice as many containers
are recycled. Disposal, recycling, and litter pickup costs go
down, saving taxpayer dollars.
The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act will create jobs.
- The recycling industry provides 1.1 million jobs.(1)
- Iowa reports that 1,200 additional jobs have been created through
the adoption of their bottle bill.(2)
- Net employment gains have been documented in nearly every state
that has enacted a bottle bill.(2)
The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act will save an enormous
amount of energy.
- Recycling aluminum cans saves 95 percent of the energy used
to make aluminum cans from virgin ore.(3)
- For each pound of aluminum recovered, Americans save the energy
resources to generate about 7.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
That’s enough energy to meet the electric needs of a city
the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for six years.(3)
- Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a
television for three hours.(3)
- For every six-pack of cans recycled, the energy equivalent of
one beverage can full gasoline is saved.(3)
- The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will operate
a 100-watt light bulb for over an hour.(4)
The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act will reduce energy-related
air pollution.
- In 1996, recycling of solid waste in the United States greatly
reduced greenhouse gas emmissions, preventing the release of 33
million tons of carbon into the air – roughly the amount
emitted annually by 25 million cars.(5)
- Net carbon emissions from producing a ton of new material are
4 to 5 times
higher than producing with recovered material in the steel, copper,
glass, and paper
industries, and 40 times higher for aluminum.(5)
The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act will reduce litter and
lessen the burden on landfills.
- Deposit states have cited beverage container litter reduction
of up to 84% and total litter reduction of up to 41%.(6)
- Seven states reported a reduction of beverage container litter
ranging from 70 to 83 percent after implementing a deposit / return
system.(6)
- Laid end-to-end, the aluminum cans wasted in 2001 would encircle
the Earth 153 times.(7)
Bottle bills enjoy strong public support.
- Public support for bottle bills ranges from 72% in Maine to
85% in Iowa, and over 70% in nationwide polls.(2)
- No state bottle bill has ever been repealed.(2)
Deposit / return systems are, by far, the nation’s most
effective container recovery program.
- States with a recycling deposit for aluminum cans have an 80%
recycling rate of aluminum cans compared to a 46% recycling rate
in states which have no deposit.(8)
- Deposit states achieved a total recovery rate of 71.6% compared
to a total recovery rate of 27.9% in non-deposit states.(9)
- Deposit states recycle 490 containers per capita per year while
non-deposit states recycle 191 containers per capita per year.(9)
- In 1999, the ten deposit states, with a total population of
81.6 million, recycled more beverage containers (32.6 billion
containers) through the deposit system than were recycled through
curbside programs (25.4 billion containers) in the remaining 40
states with a total population of 199.9 million.(9)
- A nationwide system of 10 cent deposits on beverage containers
would virtually guarantee a recycling rate of 85-90% of the beverage
cans and bottles sold in the U.S.(2)
We need to do something – more and more beverage containers
are being wasted.
- Twice as many aluminum cans were wasted in 2001 than in 1981.(7)
- Despite a tripling in curbside access in last decade (2,711
programs in 1990, 9,709 in 2000), the U.S. aluminum can recycling
rate went from 65% in 1992 to 49% in 2001.(10)
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Sources:
(1) Beck, R.W. “U.S. Recycling Economic Information Study.”
Prepared for The National Recycling Coalition. July 2001. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Last updated on Thursday, December
18th, 2003. 5 February 2004 <http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/recycle/jtr/econ/rei-rw/pdf/n_report.pdf>.
(2) “The 10¢ Incentive to Recycle.” 2003. Container
Recycling Institute. 6 February 2004 <http://www.container-recycling.org/documents/10IncentiveCovers-111003.pdf>.
(3) “Fun Facts.” Can Manufacturers Institute. 6 February
2004 <http://www.cancentral.com/funFacts.cfm>.
(4) “WasteWise Environmental Factoids.” U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Last updated on Friday, January 30th, 2004. 6 February
2004 <http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/wstewise/wrr/factoid.htm>.
(5) White House Task Force on Recycling. “Recycling ...for the
future: Consider the benefits.” November 1998. 6 February 2004
<http://www.ofee.gov/wpr/future.pdf>.
(6) “Litter.” Container Recycling Institute. 6 February
2004 <http://www.bottlebill.org/impacts/litter.htm>.
(7) “Aluminum Can Sales and Wasting Facts.” Container
Recycling Institute. 6 February 2004 <http://www.bottlebill.org/impacts/aluminum_waste.htm>.
(8) “Comparison of Aluminum Beverage Can Recycling in Deposit
States and Non-Deposit States.” March 1999. Container Recycling
Institute. 6 February 2004 <http://www.container-recycling.org/alumrate/compare.htm>.
(9) Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR).
“Understanding Beverage Container Recovery: A Value Chain Assessment
prepared for the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project.” 16 January
2002. Global Green USA 4 February 2004 <http://www.globalgreen.org/bear/Projects/>.
(10) “Rebuttals to Top 10 Arguments Used Against the Bottle
Bill.” Container Recycling Institute. 6 February 2004 <http://www.bottlebill.org/about_bb/supp_opp_args.htm>. |
This package was last updated on February 10, 2004. |
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