(May 30, 2008) — Regarding the Viewpoint article in the May 26 issue, we strongly agree with the sentiment of what is being said related to “Industry must help pick up litter.”
Our business strongly depends upon the health of the plastics industry in able for us to prosper and grow. This is why we support a national bottle bill that will ensure recycling of PET bottles at the highest rate of recovery possible. In states that have bottle bills, approximately 80 percent are recovered and recycled [see PN article printed May 2, 2005, on Page 10 for these statistics] whereas, in non-bottle-bill states, the recovery rate is 9 percent at best.
So, to appease critics that say “People need to stop treating the world as a trash can,” and that, “For industry to succeed, it has to provide solutions that keep its products from becoming litter,” the statistics prove that if government working with industry makes trash a very valuable item to the consumer, it will be traded for cash instead of thrown into the garbage. And even if it is thrown into the garbage, there will be someone that sees the value of the trash and who will pick it up or sort it out to trade it for cash!
Making trash significantly valuable (i.e. 5 to 10 cents per PET or glass bottle) and then easy to exchange for money is how to give incentive to consumers to reduce litter and help the plastics industry to continue to provide useful products by which we can all prosper. Trash for cash! It works.
Carlos R. Petzold/b>
Bodam International Ltd.
Aberdeen, Md.