OLR RESEARCH REPORT
December 8, 2005
2005-R-0836
BEVERAGE CONTAINER RECYCLING
By: Paul Frisman, Associate Analyst
You asked a number of questions about recycling. We answer most of
them individually below. We are still awaiting some information, which
we will provide in a subsequent report.
1. What is the cost per ton to recycle PET plastic at curbside? At
drop-off centers? What percentage of these costs is paid by tax
dollars?
PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is a plastic resin used in the
packaging of soft drinks, water, juice, “sports drinks,” peanut butter,
salad dressings, cosmetics and household cleaners.
Recycled PET is used in the manufacture of carpeting, food and
beverage bottles, strapping, and non-food containers, such as motor oil
and household chemical bottles.
Neither the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), nor
regional recycling coordinators are able to provide specific information on
the cost of recycling PET bottles in Connecticut.
The most frequently cited national source for such information is
“Understanding Beverage Container Recycling,” published in 2002 by
Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (the “BEAR
report”). Cost figures in the BEAR Report are from 1999.
Mary M. Janicki, Director
Phone (860) 240-8400
FAX (860) 240-8881
http://www.cga.ct.gov/olr
Connecticut General Assembly
Office of Legislative Research
Room 5300
Legislative Office Building
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
Olr@cga.ct.gov
The BEAR Report looked at a number of recycling systems, among
them deposit systems, in which consumers redeem bottles to collect a
deposit; curbside systems, in which consumers leave a variety of
recyclable materials outside their homes for collection; and drop-off
centers, in which consumers bring their recyclables to centralized
locations.
The BEAR Report did not show the specific cost of collecting PET in a
curbside or drop-off system. However, it did find that the gross cost
nationally of collecting, cleaning, sorting and compacting PET bottles
mixed with other recyclables was $184 per ton.
It found the gross cost of collecting, cleaning, sorting and compacting
plastic bottles (not just PET bottles) was $45 per ton when the bottles
were collected separately from other recyclable waste.
These costs do not include the costs of turning the recovered material
into new products or reclaiming it for reuse, or reflect the prices paid for
the material by carpet makers and other end-use manufacturers.
2. What impact have the recent hurricanes had on the
manufacture of PET?
The disruption in oil production caused by hurricanes Rita and
Katrina caused an increase in the price of petroleum-based plastic
resins. According to the November 8, 2005 New Orleans Times-Picayune
(article attached), the rising price of oil caused the price of the three most
common resins to jump 20% to 30%, from between 55 cents and 64
cents per pound to between 70 cents and 80 cents per pound.
Plastics Technology reported that because of the close correlation
between petroleum costs and resin prices, manufacturers of plastic
products could expect high materials costs for the rest of 2005 and most
of 2006.
3. Who are the primary purchasers of recycled PET?
According to the National Association for PET Container Resources’
(NAPCOR) 2004 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling
Activity, 54.5% of recycled PET is used in “fiber applications,” such as
the production of residential and automotive carpeting. Recycled PET is
also used in food and beverage bottles, (14.3% of the total); strapping,
(13.2%); and non-food (e.g., motor oil and household chemical) bottles,
(7.2%).
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The American Plastics Council (APC) has similar statistics, with the
difference between its numbers and NAPCOR’s apparently due to the fact
that APC, unlike NAPCOR, does not count bottles recycled in the U.S.
that were produced and used elsewhere. According to APC’s 2004
National Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling Report, fiber applications
accounted for 52% of domestic recycled PET use; strapping, 13%; food
and beverage containers, 12%; and non-food containers, 9%.
According to Jenny Gitlitz, of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI),
a national nonprofit organization, most recycled PET in Connecticut is
purchased by Mohawk Carpet, UltrePET and Pure Tech. Mohawk uses
PET in the manufacture of carpeting. UltrePET and Pure Tech use it to
produce new bottles, some of which may be beverage containers.
4. What percentage of beverage containers is made of recycled
PET? What impact would a greater availability of a clean
reliable PET stream have on increasing this percentage?
According to CRI’s Gitlitz, less than 5% of beverage containers are
made of recycled PET. However, Jerry Powell, editor of Resource Recycling
magazine, puts the estimate higher, at about 8% of soft drink, iced tea,
juice and water bottles nationwide. These percentages should increase,
as both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola have announced plans to use 10%
recycled content in their PET soft drink and bottled water products.
Gitlitz and APC’s Pete Dinger believe a greater supply of clean, reliable
recycled PET should help increase this percentage.
5. Are both clean and recycled PET used to made new beverage
containers? What is the difference in price?
According to APC’s Dinger, both varieties are used to make new
beverage containers, but manufacturers prefer using the cleaner
material, which requires less processing.
PET bottles collected through bottle deposit programs are generally
considered cleaner than those collected at curbside because they are less
exposed to cross contamination. Michael Schedler of NAPCOR reports a
difference, historically, of at least three cents per pound between the
deposit bottles and those collected at curbside; UltrePET’s Paul Zordan,
says the price differential has been between five and 10 cents per pound.
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According to PlasticsNews.com, the price for clean flake (i.e., ground
PET bottles) on November 21, 2005 ranged between 47 and 56 cents per
pound for clear recycled PET and 41 to 45 cents for green recycled PET.
The price for recycled PET in pellet form was between 59 and 69 cents
per pound for clear recycled PET and 51 to 56 cents per pound for green
recycled PET.
6. What percentage of PET beverage containers is currently
recycled in the U.S.? In Connecticut?
According to the American Plastics Council, 33.7% of PET soft drink
containers and 14.5% of “custom” PET bottles were recycled in 2004.
(Custom bottles include all beverage bottles other than those used for
soft drinks.) The overall recycling rate for PET bottles in 2004 was 21.6%,
up from 19.5% in 2003. This was the first increase in the PET bottle
recycling rate in about 10 years. NAPCOR attributed the increase to
increased demand, especially in the carpet industry, more pressure from
California to use recycled plastic in containers, and a better competitive
position with virgin materials. More information on this trend is available
in this article from PlasticsNews.com.
We could find no PET recycling figures specific to Connecticut.
However, CRI’s Jenny Gitlitz estimates a Connecticut recycling rate of
70% for carbonated PET beverage bottles.
We estimate that about 29.8% of PET bottles were recycled in
Connecticut in 2002 based on statistics from several sources. We arrived
at this figure using the following calculation:
DEP reports that state recycling facilities marketed about 4,467 tons
(8,934,000 pounds) of PET in 2002. At an average weight of 0.0749
pounds per bottle (according to the BEAR report), this would be the
equivalent of 119,279,038 bottles. According to CRI, total PET bottle
sales in Connecticut were 580 million in 2002, of which 270 million were
redeemable. If we assume a 2002 redemption rate of 66.8% (similar to
that of Massachusetts) then roughly 90 million PET bottles would have
remained in the waste stream.
Adding these 90 million to the 310 million non-redeemable bottles
means there were about 400 million PET bottles in the 2002 waste
stream. If about 119.3 million were recycled, this would mean a
Connecticut PET bottle recycling rate (not including redeemed bottles) of
about 29.8% in 2002.
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7. How has the availability of recycled PET changed over the last
few years?
According to an April 27, 2005 article in PlasticsNews.com, (attached)
the decision by Coke and Pepsi to step up their use of recycled PET will
increase demand for recycled PET, aggravating a situation in which
demand for that product far outstripped supply. Phil Cavin, national
procurement director for carpet maker Mohawk Industries, said
“everyone right now is just scrambling to get material, and prices are
through the roof…There’s plenty of bottles to go around, but they’re just
not being collected.” Calvin estimated in December, 2005 that demand
for recycled PET outstripped supply by about 100 million pounds.
The article attributed the shortage to demand from overseas buyers,
and increased demand for strapping materials, as well as the increased
demand from Coke and Pepsi. Increases in the price of virgin PET had
also created even more demand for recovered PET. On the other hand,
higher recycled PET prices were likely to encourage more business to
recycle their waste rather than discard it. According to APC’s Pete
Dinger, recyclers are capable of processing additional material. He said
recyclers operated at 67% of capacity in 2004, compared to 59% in 2003.
8. What are the recycling rates for existing municipal recycling
programs?
The rates vary by town and program. We have attached the DEP
statistics for each town for FY 03.
9. What are the per ton costs, by commodity, to municipalities to
recycle? Are the costs increasing, decreasing, or remaining
stable?
DEP’s Judy Belaval says neither the department nor most towns track
such information. According to Lynn Rubinstein, of the Northeast
Recycling Council, costs are dynamic and change almost daily. However,
the BEAR Report does compare the intermediate processing costs for
various commodities. The costs depend on whether the materials were
commingled (mixed together and sorted afterwards) or initially sorted by
type of material. The costs represent the intermediate processing
facilities costs of cleaning, sorting and compacting, but not the cost of
recycling or reclaiming the materials for reuse.
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2005-R-0836
Cost per ton for commingled items*:
Aluminum cans: $143
Plastic bottles
PET: $184
HPDE: $188
Glass
Clear:
$73
Amber: $112
Green: $87.
*Source: “The Cost to Recycle at a Materials Resource Facility,” National Solid Wastes Management
Association, October 1992.
Cost per ton for source-separated items**:
Aluminum cans: $45
Plastic (all types): $45
Glass (all colors) $10
**Source: SP Recycling (processor for curbside-sort and drop-off recyclables).
According to the BEAR report, it cost $579 per ton to reclaim PET
from a bale to a pellet. If the end product required a solid state resin,
such as for products that come in contact with food, the cost would be
more than $700 per ton.
10.
What are the recycling rates for deposit recycling?
Connecticut does not require the collection of this data. However, DEP
assumes Connecticut’s bottle redemption rate is similar to that of
Massachusetts. According to Nicholas Oliver, bottle bill administrator for
the Massachusetts’ DEP, that state had a bottle deposit rate of 69.5% in
2004. Aluminum cans accounted for about two-thirds of the returned
items by volume; glass containers, 17%; and plastic, 16%.
11.
How do these rates compare with other deposit states?
Eleven states have bottle deposit laws. According to May 2005 CRI
figures, and assuming Connecticut’s redemption rate is similar to that of
Massachusetts, the 70% redemption rate would be slightly higher than
the overall redemption rate in California (65%); lower than the overall
rates in Iowa (93%), Michigan (97.3%), Oregon (84%) and Vermont (9095%); and about the same as that of New York (70.2%). Redemption rates
were not available for Delaware, Hawaii, and Maine.
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According to CRI, most bottle bill states have a nickel deposit, with
the following exceptions: Michigan (10 cents for all bottles); California (8
cents for bottles larger than 24 oz.; 4 cents for smaller bottles); Maine (15
cents for wine and liquor bottles); Oregon (2 cents for refillable bottles);
and Vermont (15 cents for liquor bottles).
12. What percentage of beverage containers in Connecticut is
redeemed at chain grocery stores, package stores, convenience
stores, and redemption centers?
We were unable to obtain specific figures from the various sectors.
Connecticut Food Association president Grace Nome estimates that
about 80% to 85% of beverage containers are redeemed at grocery stores.
However, Carroll Hughes, representing the Connecticut Package Store
Association, estimates that between 15% and 30% of beverage containers
are returned to package stores. Representatives of the New England
Convenience Store Association and of redemption centers did not
respond to our inquiries.
13. What is the capacity of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs)
statewide, and what is the current average utilization of that
capacity?
We are still awaiting a response to this question.
14. What are the average costs to redemption entities of providing
RVM services to their customers? How do these costs translated
into a per-container handling cost?
We are waiting for information on the first question. According to the
BEAR Report, the per-container gross cost to retailers using reverse
vending machines is about 2.5 cents.
15. What percentage of today’s beverage market is noncarbonated
bottled water sold in containers smaller than one- gallon?
In 2003, 93% of the total units of water sold in PET and glass
nationally were in bottles smaller than one gallon, according to CRI’s
Gitlitz.
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According to Beverage Marketing Corp. managing director Gary
Hemphill, bottled water sold in units of 1.5 liters or less (about 1.6
quarts) comprised about 48% of the total commercial water market and
6.7% of the national beverage market, including alcohol, in 2004.
16.
How does this compare to five or ten years ago?
Hemphill said that bottled water in bottles of 1.5 liters or less
comprised only about 2.3% of the total beverage market, including
alcoholic beverages, in 1999.
According to the Beverage Marketing Corp., consumption of bottled
water has more than doubled in the past 10 years. U.S. bottled water
consumption in 2004 was 23.8 gallons per person, with domestic
noncarbonated water representing 94.2% of the total volume.
According to CRI, bottled water sales increased from 15.4 billion units
in 2002 to an estimated 25 billion in 2004, a 67% increase. CRI
estimates that 425 million water bottles were sold in Connecticut in
2005, about 90% of which were packaged in PET.
17. How does this compare to the number of deposit beverage
containers sold in Connecticut?
CRI’s Gitlitz estimates that noncarbonated water in sizes up to and
including 1.5 liters accounts for between 12% and 15% of the total
beverage market in Connecticut.
18. What percentage of the litter stream, by volume, are beverage
containers?
According to “What Do Litter Surveys Reveal About Bottle Bills?”, a
May 2005 presentation by a Virginia consulting firm, beer and soft drink
containers (glass, plastic and aluminum) comprise, on average, about
6.37% of state litter streams. According to the presentation, other
beverage containers (juice, wine, liquor and water) account for about
1.34% of state litter streams.
However, a 2004 New Jersey litter survey found that beverage
container-related litter (including bottle caps, plastic six-pack rings and
paper cartons) comprised about 15.5% of total litter in that state. Beer
and soft drink containers made up about 6.4% of that amount, with
juice, water, liquor, and wine containers accounting for about 4%. Steven
Stein, who oversaw the survey, says the proportion of water bottles
among littered beverage containers is increasing.
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In his March 7, 2005 testimony before the Environment Committee,
Kevin S. Dietly, representing the Connecticut Food Association, said
beverage containers comprise about 8.5% of the litter discarded on
roadsides, parks and beaches. Dietly, principal of the Massachusetts
consulting firm Northbridge Environmental Consultants, arrived at that
figure by averaging 37 litter surveys conducted in 20 states between
1978 and 2000. Dietly said recent studies placed the noncarbonated
beverage container share of litter at less than 1.4%.
Three recent studies found a high proportion of non-redeemable
bottles in the beverage container waste stream.
The 2003 Charles River (Mass.) Cleanup found nearly 82% of the 527
bottles recovered were non-returnable. In other words, the nonredeemable bottles outnumbered the redeemable containers by 4.5 to 1,
even though non-redeemable bottles at the time made up less than half
the beverage containers sold. The Worcester Earth Day Cleanup
conducted the same year collected 276 deposit bottles and 1,152 nondeposit bottles (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), a ratio of 4.2 non-deposit
bottles for each deposit bottle collected.
A similar cleanup of the Hudson River in New York in 2002 found that
non-returnable beverage containers made up 61% of the beverage
container litter stream, despite accounting for only 22% of the beverage
market at the time.
19. What percentage of littered beverage containers is redeemed
compared to disposed of by towns? What percentage is
disposed of by municipalities?
Neither DEP nor the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities
tracks this information.
20. What litter control costs do municipalities pay to pick up and
dispose of beverage containers?
We were unable to obtain this information for Connecticut. However,
according to the New Jersey litter survey mentioned above, it would cost
$1.29 to remove each piece of litter under a paid litter pick-up program.
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According to this Economic and Environmental Benefits Of A Deposit
System For Beverage Containers in the State of Washington, it cost
$1,200 per ton to pick up litter in 2002. About one quarter (26.8%) of
this litter consisted of aluminum cans and plastic and glass bottles. The
report estimated that eliminating 90% of these bottles and cans through
a redemption system would save 24.1% of the total cost, or about $1.07
million annually.
22. Assuming the same redemption rate for bottled water as for
deposit containers, how much money in unclaimed deposits on
water bottles might be realized annually?
The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates that the annual gross revenue
gain from unredeemed deposits for bottled water in Connecticut would be
approximately $3,750,000. The estimate is based on an estimated 70%
redemption rate and estimated state container data available from CRI.
PF:ts
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