GLOBAL GREEN USA AND KEY STAKEHOLDERS JOINTLY RELEASE BASELINE STUDY OF BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECOVERY PROGRAMS

For Immediate Release -

ATLANTA, January 16, 2002 - A unique coalition of industry, governmental agencies and environmental organizations has released a study that, for the first time, provides baseline statistics on the costs, benefits and effectiveness of programs to recover discarded beverage containers for recycling. Understanding Beverage Container Recycling: A Value Chain Assessment is the final report of the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project, Stage One. Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR), a project of Global Green USA, launched the initiative last Spring in an effort to bring together long-standing opponents in the battle over different approaches to recycling in a fact-based approach to public policy making. Project participants included The Coca-Cola Company, Waste Management, Inc., Beaulieu of America, Tomra North America, Southeastern Container, GrassRoots Recycling Network and the Container Recycling Institute.  The report was prepared by a research consulting!
 team comprising R.W. Beck, Inc., Franklin Associates, Ltd., the Tellus Institute and Sound Resource Management Group.  Research was coordinated by the project manager, Boisson & Associates. 

Working intensively over six months, project participants made progress towards their objective of identifying jointly supported policies by participating in a study of existing U.S. recovery programs.  'We made a good start by showing that groups with divergent views can work together and reach substantial agreement,' said Ben Jordan, Environmental Manager for The Coca-Cola Company. 'We didn't agree to recommend any particular program, but we established a model for overcoming the historical entrenchment that has stymied progress for two decades,' according to Rick Best, Board Member of GrassRoots Recycling Network. 

The report is a snapshot of U.S. programs as they operated in 1999, and does not attempt to project how programs would perform if they were to be expanded or replicated in other areas.  The report contrasts the effectiveness of different programs in detail, and verifies that deposit systems recover the highest percentage of discarded containers, followed by municipal curbside programs and residential drop-off programs. 'But the cost of recovery programs is more subtle than advocates on either side have been willing to admit,' said Pierre Ferrari, BEAR's Chair. The findings indicate some ways that the costs of deposit and other recycling programs can be reduced. But participants stressed that the report does not attempt to address important implementation questions regarding new or expanded recycling systems.  The report also shows the environmental advantages of recycling containers.  'We documented several key benefits in this collaborative process, for example, beverage co!
ntainer recycling saved about 147 trillion BTU in 1999, that's equivalent to over 32 million barrels of oil,' said Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green USA. 

Project participants agreed that there is a need to continue fact-based, collaborative discussions and will invite additional stakeholders to participate.  'The Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project is a critical component of the movement to secure voluntary, long-term product stewardship agreements in the U.S.,' according to Sherry Enzler, Director of the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance. Future efforts are likely to concentrate on addressing stakeholder concerns about different policies. One key issue is the need for aggressive market development initiatives to minimize potential market volatility associated with increasing recovery. 

Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling, a project of Global Green USA, is a coalition dedicated to increasing the national recycling rate for used beverage containers to 80%.  Its members are united by agreement on principles including: minimizing environmental impacts while improving all packaging, creating sustainable jobs and businesses, and working with clarity and honesty to understand costs and evaluate the widest range of policies and practices to achieve its goal.   Global Green USA -- created in 1994 as the U.S. affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev's environmental movement Green Cross International  -- works in cooperation with individuals, industry, and government to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure world. The report, and additional information on the project, are available on BEAR's website at www.globalgreen.org/bear.

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GLOBAL GREEN USA, The US Affiliate of Green Cross International

Global Green USA works in cooperation with individuals, industry, and 
government to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure 
world.

Acting as a catalyst, facilitator, and mediator, Global Green USA encourages 
collaborative approaches and crosscutting solutions to environmental 
challenges.

Copyright (c) 2002, Global Green USA - the US affiliate of Green Cross
International

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