Plastic Debris – Rivers to Sea

1Container Recycling Institute 2005

Plastic Debris – Rivers to SeaRedondo Beach, California

September 7-9, 2005

Stopping Plastic Beverage

Bottle Debris at the Source

Pat FranklinExecutive Director

Container Recycling Institute


Introducing…the one-way, Introducing…the one-way, throwaway can . . . 1930throwaway can . . . 1930


FACT: There were no plastic beverage bottles in the 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and very few in the 1970’s and 80’s.

FACT: In 2005 Americans will drain more than 50 billion single-serving PET plastic beverage bottles . . . an estimated 40 billion will end up landfilled or littered..


Container Container TypeType

19731973 19831983

19919933

20020033

Aluminum cansAluminum cans 1010 5656 9494 100100

Glass bottlesGlass bottles 2525 3232 3232 3636

PET Plastic PET Plastic BottlesBottles

---- 44 99 4848

TOTALTOTAL 3535 9292 135135 184184

Sources: Aluminum Association,Glass Packaging Institute, US EPA, US Department of Commerce, American Plastics Council, Beverage Marketing Corporation.

Beverage Container Sales: 1973-2003(in billions)


PET Carbonated Soft Drink Bottle Sales: 1992 - 2004

12.0 12.8

18.7

23.7 25.627.8 28.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004ESource: American Plastics Council

Billions of Units


PET Bottled Water Sales in the U.S. (billions of units)

0

4

8

12

16

20

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Includes domestic and imported non-sparkling water in plastic bottles of 1.5 liters or less. Data derived from the Beverage Marketing Corporation. Note: CRI estimated 1997 and 1998 imports.

© Container Recycling Institute, 2005


A moment of A moment of refreshmentrefreshment

. . . an eternity of waste!


Hawai’i 2002Hawai’i 2002


A stream in Maryland 2005


Beverage Container Debris Picked up during 2004 International Coastal Cleanup

199,804 189,832 209,075

339,841

928,580

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

Glass Bottles AluminumCans

Plastic Bottles Caps & Lids All BeverageContainerDebrisSource: 2004 International Coastal Cleanup, The Ocean Conservancy

# of Items


Beverage Containers as Percent of Total Debris Collected: 2004 International Coastal Cleanup

928,580

2,433,930

Bev Cont DebrisAll Marine Debris

72%

28%

Source: 2004 International Coastal Cleanup, The Ocean Conservancy


Plastic Beverage Bottles as a Percent Plastic Beverage Bottles as a Percent of Total Debris: Potomac Watershed of Total Debris: Potomac Watershed CleanupCleanup

The 108,575 recyclable The 108,575 recyclable plastic bottles (10,000 plastic bottles (10,000 pounds) collected pounds) collected during the 2004 spring during the 2004 spring cleanup accounted for cleanup accounted for 30% of all bagged 30% of all bagged trashtrash collected. collected.

30%70%

Plastic Beverage Bottles

All other Debris

2004

Source: Alice Ferguson Foundation, 2005


Beverage Containers as a Percent Beverage Containers as a Percent of Waterway Debris in Kentucky: of Waterway Debris in Kentucky: 20002000

44%21%

6%6%4%

3%

16%

Beverage ContainersCarriers, tops, pull tabsSnack foodTobacco relatedTake outToiletriesAccidental 44%

Source: Litter in Kentucky, A View from the Field, Solid Waste Coordinators of Kentucky (SWaCK) 2000.

Beverage containers, carriers, tops and pull tabs represented 50% of total waterway debris in SWaCK Study


Litter taxes

How can we reduce beverage container debris in waterways?

Recycling programs

Container deposit laws


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


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


Recycling Programs

Bin there…done that!Bin there…done that!

Despite tremendous growth of curbside recycling in the 1990’s beverage container debris has actually increased.


Curbside Recycling has not Curbed Curbside Recycling has not Curbed Beverage Container Coastal DebrisBeverage Container Coastal Debris

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

% of U.S. Population w/Curbside Recycling

Bev Cont as % of TotalCoastal Debris

Sou

rces

: Oce

an C

onse

rvan

cy, U

.S. B

urea

u of

the

Cen

sus,

B

ioC

ycle

. * N

ote:

200

0 cu

rbsi

de a

cces

s ra

te is

an

esti

mat

e ba

sed

on p

rior

yea

r.

Estimate


Container Deposit Laws

Oregon

Vermont

Michigan

Maine

Iowa

Connecticut

Massachusetts

Delaware

New York

California

Hawaii


Litter Reduction After Passage of Litter Reduction After Passage of Container Deposit LegislationContainer Deposit Legislation

State andState and

Source of DataSource of Data

Beverage Container Beverage Container Litter ReductionLitter Reduction

Total Litter Total Litter ReductionReduction

New York New York (Temp (Temp State Commission State Commission 19851985))

70-80%70-80% 30%30%

Oregon Oregon (OR DEQ (OR DEQ 1982)1982)

83%83% 47%47%

Vermont Vermont (US GAO (US GAO 1977)1977)

76%76% 35%35%

Maine Maine (US GAO (US GAO 19801980))

69-77%69-77% 34-64%34-64%

Michigan Michigan (MI DOT (MI DOT 1979)1979)

84%84% 41%41%

Iowa Iowa (IA DOT 1980)(IA DOT 1980) 76%76% 39%39%


Beverage Containers as a Percent of Coastal Debris in States with no CDL

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

FL GA HI IL IN LA MD MN MO NE NJ NC OH RI SC TX VA WA WI

Source: CRI calculations based on 2004 International Coastal Cleanup data

2004

18%: national average 11%: average

in CDL states


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%

2004

0% 10% 20% 30%

CA

CT

MA

ME

MI

NY

OR

No CDLAvg. 22%

National Avg. 18%

Source: CRI calculations based on 2004 International Coastal Cleanup data


Beverage Bottle & Can Debris Collected during International Coastal Cleanup in U.S.

(1996, 1998, 2000 & 2004)

6%

10%

13%

5%

8%

11%

6%

10%13%

11%

18%

22%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

1996 1998 2000 2004

CDL States National Average Non CDL States

Source: CRI calculations based on date from the International Coastal CleanupNote: 2004 data for states that collected more than 5,000 total items CA, CT, FL, GA, HI,IL, IN, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN,MO, NE, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, WI, Guam, PR,VI,


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.


We can do something about beverage container debris today!


They will thank us tomorrow!


Visit us on the web at: Visit us on the web at: www.container-recycling.orgwww.container-recycling.org and and

www.bottlebill.orgwww.bottlebill.org

Container Recycling Institute 1601 N. Kent Street, Suite 803, Arlington, VA 22209

TEL: 703.276.9800 • FAX: 703.276.9587 Email: [email protected]

CRI is a nonprofit research and public education organization that studies and promotes alternatives for reducing container and packaging waste.

Documents

Plastic Debris – Rivers to Sea