February 2005 Newsletter
Water On The Go: Reflections on the Bottle
Recycling Mercury-Containing Lamps
News In Brief
Get Active, Get Action Alerts!
Recycling at Events: A Guide to Reducing Waste at Any Event
Question of the Month
Download PDF version here
Back to Newsletter Page
Water On The Go: Reflections
on the Bottle
By Lori Stole
In the not-so-distant-past the single serve water bottle did not exist. Can you imagine? How did we manage to travel around through our day without one? In just a few short years these bottles have taken over. They’ve taken over supermarket shelves, meetings, events, and our desktops and garbage cans.
Reduce
After all, we did manage without bottled water for a very long time. Think back,
and consider the ways.
• Carry a mug with you and fill it from a tap when you get to your event.
• Buy a durable water bottle to carry around with you. (Wash it regularly.)
• Invest in a cooler for the meeting room if there is not a water tap there.
Before choosing to buy that bottle of water consider the following The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimated several years ago that manufacturing a 1 year supply of America’s water bottles consumes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil, and bottled water sales are growing wildly every year. Is their use necessary?
Ground water supplies in the vicinity of water bottlers are being depleted. Most scientists consider groundwater to be a non-renewable resource, due to the long amount of time needed to naturally replenish aquifers. Some people purchase bottled water assuming that it is safer than tap water. However, in most cases tap water adheres to stricter purity standards than bottled water. The Sept/Oct 2003 issue of E Environmental Magazine covers many aspects of this issue.
Recycle
The second best strategy is to recycle that bottle. Single-use water bottles
are manufactured from polyethylene terepthalate (PET), or #1 plastic resin.
This material can be readily recycled and is used as raw material to make products
like sweaters, carpet, tee shirts, and products for the home, but it cannot
be circularly recycled back into water bottles.
The recycling rate for water bottles is low and decreasing steadily. A 2003 study from California found just 16% of its water bottles were recycled, while nearly 3 million were going into California’s trash EVERY day. The demand for to-be-recycled PET bottles is larger than the supply. It’s essential that these bottles find their way into the recycling stream. Collection would increase if these bottles were included in bottle deposit bills.
By all means, avoid disposal
The Container Recycling Institute reported recently that 90% of plastic water
bottles end up as either garbage or litter. When disposed, they swallow landfill
space or are incinerated, resulting in more air pollution and greenhouse gasses,
and wasting valuable resources. Please, please help these bottles to get into
the recycling stream!
An alternative: Durable bottles
When you do purchase that durable water bottle, there’s an additional factor
to be aware of. They are not all made from the same kind of material. Look at
the bottom of the bottle for letters or a number that identify the plastic resin
type. Polypropylene (PP) #5, polyethylene (PE), high density polyethylene (HDPE)
#2 or low density polyethylene (LDPE) #4 have no recognized toxicity issues
at this time and are considered acceptable materials. Bottles from these materials
can all be recycled.
Polycarbonate (PC), a more rigid, clear material, is also commonly used, but some studies give cause for concern. These bottles are identified on the bottom with PC. A #7 bottle may also be PC, or any variety of other resin types. Bisphenol A (BPA) is the primary building block of polycarbonate, and is a known endocrine disrupter that mimics the female hormone estrogen. Scientists are just starting to learn that endocrine disrupters can cause problems at extremely low levels, and that sometimes these problems don’t surface for a generation or two. It is commonly agreed that low levels of BPA migrate out of the plastic and into the food contained therein. There is disagreement however on whether the leaching is a health risk, leaving us to draw our own conclusion. Some of the arguments to consider and key references are summarized at this web site: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/baffled/baffled_notes.html.
The Nalgene Company manufactures many of the durable water bottles commonly used. It is sometimes implied that all Nalgene bottles are made from PC, but only the tinted colored ones are in fact polycarbonate. The blue-lidded, more opaque bottles are PE. No matter what bottle you consider buying, check those numbers on the bottom to know what plastic it is made from.
What you can do
By reviewing your personal practices and advocating for change, you can help
reduce the waste and environmental impacts of the current trends in PET-bottle
use and disposal.
• Find alternatives to disposable water bottles.
• If you must use one, recycle it, and help educate others to do the same.
• If you frequent spaces that don’t have recycling bins, ask for one.
• Support bottle bill expansion to include PET water bottles.
Note: In the coming months, Recycling Advocates will keep you informed of any changes to Oregon’s Bottle Bill that may impact disposable bottles. For more information on PET-bottle waste and recycling, visit http://www.Container-Recycling.org.
Recycling Mercury-Containing Lamps
New CD-ROM available
The Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers (ALMR), along with the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), recently released an educational CD-ROM promoting the recycling of mercury-containing lamps. The CD is a product of the Lamp Recycling Outreach Project (LROP), a cooperative agreement between the ALMR and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and funded by the EPA.
“The national recycling rate is very low, just about 24 percent,” according to Paul Abernathy, executive director of the ALMR and director of the project. “We believe the low recycling rate is because most people are not aware many lamps contain toxic levels of mercury or that they have a responsibility to keep this mercury out of the environment.”
The CD-ROM contains:
• A short video overview of the mercury lighting and recycling issues;
• Specific information targeted at many groups that handle mercury lamps, including
business owners, state governments, electrical distributors, environmental organizations,
and solid waste professionals;
• Contact information for each state’s primary regulatory agency;
• State-by-state recycling resources, guidance, etc.;
• A state-by-state comparison of stringency policies and federal regulations;
and
• A comprehensive list of recyclers and recycling resources.
For information about obtaining copies of the CD-ROM go to http://www.lamprecycle.org. Recycling Advocates members may borrow RA’s copy free of charge by calling (503) 777-0909 or by sending a request to info@recyclingadvocates.org. Additional information about lamp recycling can be found at www.almr.org, or at the EPA’s information page, http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/id/univwast/lamp.htm. For information on handling mercury-containing lamps in Oregon, visit http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/hw/factsheets/WasteLampsBallasts.pdf.
Office Depot Launches Free Collection Program
Partnering with the Rechargeable Battery Recycling
Corporation (RBRC), Office Depot is now collecting used cell phones and rechargeable
batteries at all 960 Office Depot locations in the U.S. and Canada. Office Depot
will collect, at no charge, all old cell phones and all used rechargeable batteries
weighing less than two pounds. These batteries are found in cell phones and
also commonly found in other portable electronics products including cordless
phones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants and digital cameras. While
rechargeable batteries reduce waste by being reused again and again - replacing
between 50 to 300 single-use disposal batteries - they contain potentially harmful
substances and should be recycled rather than placed in the garbage.
The collected cell phones will be refurbished and resold when possible, or recycled. A portion of the proceeds received from the resale will benefit selected charities, such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America. All rechargeable batteries collected in partnership with RBRC are recycled in a state-of-the-art metals reclamation facility in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, with no by-products being sent to a landfill. Nickel and iron recovered from batteries are used in the production of stainless steel; cadmium is purified and used in Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries.
E-Waste Help for Federal Agencies
The Environmental Protection Agency awarded its initial eight contracts in December to help federal agencies dispose of computers and other used electronic equipment in an environmental manner. The Government Wide Acquisition Contracts for Recycling Electronics and Asset Disposition Services will help federal agencies recycle and dispose of electronic equipment.
According to the article, the EPA estimates federal agencies will spend about $60 billion on information technology equipment, software, infrastructure and services in 2005. Furthermore, the government disposes of about 10,000 computers a week.
Glass Recycling: Prices and Quality Drop
American Recycler Newspaper reported last month that the prices and quality of recovered glass continues to decline. The problem, according to Curt Brucey of Strategic Materials, Inc in Houston is not a weak market. Demand is strong, but the quality of collected glass is low due to single stream recycling and other waste management practices that increase diversion from landfills at the cost of contaminating recovered glass.
For more information on the topic of glass recycling, visit http://www.Container-Recycling.org.
Get Active, Get Action Alerts!
RA member benefit helps keep you in the know
Oregon’s legislative session is upon us. You can support important recycling
and waste prevention related bills by signing up for our “Action Alert” list.
Recycling Advocates members who participate receive e- mail messages about when
important hearings or other actions are to take place. Included may be talking
points for letters and calls to your local representatives.
“Action Alert!” messages also help us prevent anti-recycling and anti-waste prevention bills from passing. During the last session the sudden (and sneaky) “Glass to Trash” bill came up unexpectedly. Recycling Advocates members received Action Alerts, and a flurry of calls from concerned citizens led to the demise of this harmful bill.
This year, we anticipate the need for member support for potential electronics stewardship legislation. As citizens, we can state our beliefs to our representatives and counter industry lobbyists with the voice of real Oregonians.
To become a member of our “Action Alert!” list, send your request to be included to info@recyclingadvocates.org.
Recycling at Events: A Guide to Reducing Waste at Any Event
New edition available soon
Recycling Advocates, Metro, and Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development have collaborated to revise, print, and distribute a new edition of Recycling at Events. The fully updated guide covers the key areas of pre-event planning, day-of-event tips, and post-event evaluation. Specific topics include establishing goals, dealing with food, vendors, and volunteers, site logistics, set-up, publicity, and, of course, recycling. The Guide contains an updated and expanded list of resources for event materials for event planners. And, waste prevention and sustainability tips in each section give event planners the tools to ”take it one step further.”
The publication is free to all RA members and is available at no cost to individuals and organizations within the Metro area. Recycling Advocates will sell and ship copies of the guide to anyone outside the Metro boundaries. For more information, call Recycling Advocates at (503) 777-0909.
E-waste keeps piling up, as states and the country have yet to implement sound policies for how to prevent electronics waste. What are you doing to recycle computers, cell phones, PDA’s and other electronics? How many computers do you have in your home or office that need to be recycled?
E-mail your responses to info@recyclingadvocates.org or call us at (503) 777-0909 and leave a message by February 20.
Answer to last month’s question
According to recent research, which of the following do small electronic devices
like cell phones, PDA’s, and keyboard mice leach out at levels considered as
hazardous waste? A. Cadmium B. Copper C. Iodine D. Lead
A recent University of Florida environmental engineers concludes that lead leaches from small electronic devices like cell phones, PDA’s, and keyboard mice at levels considered as hazardous waste under EPA regulations. For more information, go to http://www.svtc.org/cleancc/ewastehazwaste.htm.
Do you have a question you would like us to publish? E-mail us your question at info@recyclingadvocates.org