The National Association for Plastic Container Recovery has the support of the Public Recycling Officials of Pennsylvania to plan a statewide promotional campaign for recycling PET bottles. The association commonly organizes communitywide promotional programs, said Quinn Davidson, spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C.-based association. She said this is the first statewide program proposed by the association of which she is aware.
NAPCOR approached PROP during PROP's recent board meeting in Seven Springs, Pa.
As some board members expressed concerns about supporting an advertising and educational campaign for a material not universally collected for recycling in Pennsylvania, the board created an eight-member task force to work with NAPCOR to plan the program.
The task force held its first meeting last week. No budget or start date for the program has been established, according to Davidson.
``Although no timetable has been set up yet, the group is aiming for the first half of next year,'' she said.
The association selected Pennsylvania for the program because of its established re-cycling programs, large com-munities and 11 media markets with good relations with state officials, Davidson said.
She also pointed to the effectiveness of the PROP network as a contributing factor for the selection.
A board member questioned whether Philadelphia's decision not to include plastics in its curbside program influenced NAPCOR's targeting of Pennsylvania.
Davidson said the association plans no special effort to win back the city.
The board agreed to take part in the project because the association wanted PROP to work on the ground floor of the project, said Joyce Hatala, president of PROP and recycling and solid waste coordinator for Lackawana County, Pa.
``We don't want the advertising to move faster than a re-gion's ability to collect PET,'' Hatala said.
Sandi Childs, NAPCOR eastern regional director, represents the association on the task force. Hatala and Sandra Strauss-Moore, executive director of PROP, along with five other group members, represent their organization.
