Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Conference

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Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Conference

• Perspectives on the RPPC Law
• Tim Shestek
• American Plastics Council
• May 15, 2000

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Presentation Outline

• Plastics in Perspective
• Why do we have plastics?
• Plastics role in resource conservation.
• Voluntary industry initiatives.
• Californias RPPC law
• Issues from the industry perspective.

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Plastics in Perspective

• Primary function of packaging is to protect goods
  during shipping, handling, and merchandising.
• In many cases, plastics offer the best protection
  while using minimal resources creating less
  waste.

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Plastics in Perspective

• FACT 400 more material by weight would be
  needed to make packaging if there were no
  plastics
• FACT Without plastics, the volume of packaging
  would more than double.

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Plastics in Perspective

• Plastics help conserve resources by using less
  material to produce packaging.
• FACT Just 2 pounds of plastic can deliver nearly
  8 gallons of a beverage. It would take 3 pounds
  of aluminum, 8 pounds of steel, and 27 pounds of
  glass to do the same job.

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Plastics in Perspective

• Plastics are attractive based largely on its
  ability to do more with less.
• meet manufacturers and consumers needs while
  consuming less material and energy.

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Plastics in Perspective

• FACT Todays 2-liter soda bottle uses 25 less
  plastic than it did in 1977.
• RESULT At todays consumption rates, 250 million
  pounds of packaging have been eliminated each
  year.

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Plastics in Perspective

• Plastics production has increased because it is
  replacing other packaging materials.
• By using plastics, product manufacturers save
  enough energy to power a city of 1 million homes
  for roughly 3 ½ years.

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Plastics in Perspective

• How much plastic are we talking about?
• Cascadia Consulting estimates that RPPCs account
  for 1.06 of Californias municipal waste stream.
  (1999 figures)

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Plastics in Perspective

• What is industry doing?
• Source reduction activities achieved by using
  plastics are done because it makes good
  environmental and business sense to reduce
  packaging.

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Plastics in Perspective

• APC / CIWMB / Albertsons / GMA and others launch
  No. Cal. recycling awareness campaign.
• Point-of-sale materials
• Radio / TV
• Do you partPlease recycle plastic bottles!

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Plastics in Perspective

• Moving recovered material to market
• APC / Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. undertake
  Recovered Plastics Market Referral Service
• 1-888-753-7485
• www.caplasticsmarkets.com
• Linking Buyers Sellers

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Plastics in Perspective

• APC publications help consumers buy-recycled
• Shop Recycled Guide
• Recycled Plastic Products Sourcebook
• Garden Landscaping Sourcebook

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Perspectives on the RPPC Law

• Participation in recycling programs is key.
• In recent years, market demand and reclamation
  capacity have outstripped the supply of recovered
  plastic containers.

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Perspectives on the RPPC Law

• Nov. 1999 APR letter to Wall Street Journal
  Capacity and demand exist to process more
  bottles if the public participates more
  vigorously. Plastics recycling is not in a state
  of crisis, it is in a state of growth.

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Perspectives on the RPPC Law

• City of Napa, CA case study
• 35 of the plastic containers targeted by the
  citys collection program were ending up in the
  waste stream.
• For pigmented HDPE, more than half wound up the
  garbage can instead of the recycling bin.

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Perspectives on the RPPC Law

• Issues with the current RPPC law
• Does not address consumer participation in
  existing plastics recycling programs.
• Doesnt recognize manufacturers initiatives to
  reduce waste
• Switching from glass to plastic should be not be
  penalized.

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Perspectives on the RPPC Law

• No recognition for other resource conservation
  benefits of plastics (i.e. energy efficiency,
  fuel savings, pollution reduction)
• Prospective recycling rate necessary for product
  manufacturers to make important decisions.

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Perspectives on the RPPC Law

• During the last decade, has the RPPC law
• Increased plastic recycling rates?
• Increased consumer participation in existing
  plastics recycling programs?
• Assisted in increasing supply of PCR to meet
  growing demand?
• Spurred further packaging innovations?