CRI Bids Farewell to Founder Pat Franklin, Welcomes New Executive Director

CRI Bids Farewell to Founder Pat Franklin,
Welcomes New Executive Director

Washington, DC (April 23, 2007) - Scott Trundle, Chairman of the Board of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI) announced that founder and long-time Executive Director Pat Franklin retired this week.  “As CRI’s originator and founder, Pat Franklin has been its brain trust and inspiration for 16 years,” said Mr. Trundle.     
 
Ms. Franklin founded the Container Recycling Institute in February of 1991, to provide research on beverage container sales and recycling trends and to serve as a clearinghouse on container deposit laws.  Rigid beverage containers are made from aluminum, plastic or glass, and are readily recyclable.  Using scrap bottles and cans instead of virgin materials, conserves energy and natural resources and is cost-effective for manufacturers of containers and other products.  
 
Analysis by CRI shows that 135 billion of more than 215 billion beverage containers sold in the United States in 2005 were wasted rather than recycled. Despite an increase in recycling programs, the newer single-serving packages and an explosion of non-carbonated beverages on the market have out-paced recycling efforts.  
 
“The wasting patterns that prompted me to start this organization are still part of the national culture.  I leave CRI with mixed emotions because there is still much work to be done,” said Ms. Franklin. “The fact that 7 out of 10 recyclable beverage containers are not recycled is appalling and a dreadful waste of energy and material resources.  This wasting trend must be reversed.”
 
Mr. Trundle also announced the naming of Ms. Franklin’s successor, Elizabeth (Betty) McLaughlin.  Ms. McLaughlin brings nineteen years of non-profit environmental advocacy and public policy experience to CRI. She comes to the organization from the Connecticut Audubon Society, where she served as Environmental Affairs Director.   Previously, Ms. McLaughlin served as the Legislative Issues Director for the Sierra Club/Connecticut Chapter, Executive Director of the Farmington (CT) River Watershed Association and Connecticut Director for the Regional Plan Association.  
 
“Like so many of the thousands of people who have come to rely on CRI’s well-researched, sourced and reliable beverage container waste and recycling data, I know what a valuable resource CRI is,” said Ms. McLaughlin. “I am committed to ensuring that we continue to provide the high-quality research that has been the hallmark of CRI.” She added that Research Director Jenny Gitlitz will remain with the organization..
 
“This is a watershed time for recycling in the United States,” McLaughlin said. “As leaders look for solutions to the global challenges of climate change, energy consumption, and resources depletion, the economic and societal benefits of recycling are being re-discovered. For those of us who have always been advocates of less waste and more producer responsibility, this renewed interest in recycling is certainly welcome news.”
 
“If at the same time one can be sad to be losing an outstanding leader and happy to have found a capable successor, then as chair of CRI, I most certainly am both,” said Mr. Trundle of the leadership transition.  

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The Container Recycling Institute is a non-profit organization that analyzes beverage container sales, recycling, and wasting trends, and advocates policy measures to increase recycling and reduce the environmental damages from container production and disposal.


Contact:     
Betty McLaughlin (202) 263-0999
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Pat Franklin: (703) 304-3546
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