The
Expanding Single-Serve Beverage Market -
More Litter and Waste
'New Age' drinks have exploded onto the billion dollar beverage scene, increasing 1,350% in volume in the past five years. An estimated 20 billion new age drink containers are sold annually in the U.S. today, and this segment of the beverage industry is expected to grow at a rate of 200% between 1996 and 2000.
These beverages are sold primarily in single-serve bottles and cans, and include juice drinks, sports drinks teas and bottled water. Because they were virtually non-existent in the 1970's and 1980's when bottle bills were enacted, and because they are not categorized as 'carbonated' they are not covered by original bottle bills.
With the expansion of the beverage market, policymakers
and environmentalists are working to expand their existing bottle bills
to include these new age drink containers. Despite intense lobbying from
the beverage industry, expansion efforts are underway in Massachusetts,
Oregon,
Vermont and Michigan.
According to a report for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by the Glass Packaging Institute and the Solid Waste Association of North America, between 30 and 50 percent of glass containers collected through commingled curbside recycling programs in the U.S. are NOT used to make new glass containers.
This mixed glass cullet is either sold as aggregate at a very low price, or the local government pays to have it picked up. Worse yet, hundreds of thousands of tons of cullet collected through curbside recycling programs are being landfilled each year.
Removing these glass containers from the waste stream
would greatly increase the efficiency of curbside and commercial recycling
programs and reduce
collection and processing costs.
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