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May 24, 2005

UBC recycling on mend as '04 rate increases
Paul Schaffer

NEW YORK -- The recycling rate for used beverage cans (UBCs) has increased for the first time since 1997, according to three trade associations.

The 2004 recycling figure of 51.2 percent was up from 50 percent in 2003, which marked the low point after peaking at 67.9 percent in 1992, according to figures released last week by the Aluminum Association, the Can Manufacturers Institute and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

But the Container Recycling Institute, an advocacy group for state-mandated can and bottle deposits, said the trade associations' data overstate the rate by including both imports and exports of can scrap.

Filtering out the imports, which originated with non-U.S. consumers, last year's rate was 45.1 percent, up from 44.3 percent in 2003, the institute said. By its calculations, the recycling rate dropped below 50 percent starting in 2001.Robin Wiener, president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, said the recycling rate depends on public participation.

"By recycling beverage cans, the public has the opportunity to simultaneously make a positive contribution to cleaner air, energy efficiency and reduced landfill use," Wiener said. "The industry has done its part by designing cans to be easily recyclable. The public must do its part to help by recycling even more."

The Aluminum Association noted that its public outreach includes an advertising campaign aimed at children, using the Nickelodeon cable channel. The group also has a recycling partnership with a low-cost housing program called Habitat for Humanity."

We are looking forward to working with the aluminum sheet suppliers, the beverage marketers and legislators to promote the values of recycling to consumers, to keep the momentum," Bill Barker, chairman of the Can Manufacturers Institute, said.