Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CFO of the Year
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 06, 2020 11:02 AM

ABA open to discussing bottle bills

Jim Johnson
Senior Reporter
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    ABA CEO Katherine Lugar

    Austin, Texas — America's largest soft drink makers are no longer unilaterally opposing plastic bottle recycling legislation, but it remains to be seen if the American Beverage Association, a trade group which represents PepsiCo Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc., will ultimately embrace the idea of bottle bills.

    "Traditionally, the industry has been opposed to bottle bills," ABA CEO Katherine Lugar said at The Packaging Conference in Austin.

    "You are not going to hear an outright 'no' from us right now. Part of that comes from the fact that each company has set really bold goals for the amount of recycled content they want to be using in their product. We know that a piece of that may evolve around policy. Everything needs to be on the table," she said.

    But that doesn't mean ABA is going to automatically accept bottle bills in any form, Lugar said.

    "The states that have deposit return systems today, by and large, there are a lot of improvements that need to be made," she said.

    Lugar mentioned two hot-button issues for her group that need to be addressed in any bottle bill discussion.

    Any program needs to be consumer-friendly, she said. And "if you are going to put a fee on one of our containers, you have to make sure it's going back into recycling infrastructure and to support the very cause that you are trying to do. And that's not the case today," she said.

    In other words, states should not siphon off bottle deposits to help fund other portions of government.

    "So I will tell you as we go forward, we are going to be very constructive in our dialogue. You are going to hear a very different tone out of our industry, to say that we want to work with you. We want to work to get this right," Lugar said.

    "We think there is a lot of stuff that can be cleaned up and be far more effective than what is in effect today. But in all of this, you will not hear an outright 'no.' You will hear a 'no' from us if we think it's a bad, ineffective system, absolutely," she said. "But what you are hearing increasingly here are the kind of principles that are really important to us in looking to solve this problem."

    Ten states currently have bottle bills that collect deposits on beverage containers. The systems are aimed at promoting bottle collection after use for recycling.

    While ABA now is willing to discuss bottle bills, Lugar said, there still are a lot of "bad" bottle bills out there now.

    Lugar's comments at the conference comes a few months after the trade group launched its Every Bottle Back campaign designed to boost the level of PET bottle recycling.

    "I think we all know there is a heightened scrutiny in so-called single-use plastics," Lugar said. "There's really been a misperception that our PET plastic is single-use."

    "Our PET bottles are made to be reused," she said. "The problem is most people don't know it."

    The Every Bottle Back campaign is designed to help people become more aware of PET recycling.

    PET bottles are the most recycled plastic in the United States, but its recycling rate is just a shade below 30 percent. That puts the material far behind other packaging substrates such as aluminum and cardboard in terms of its recycling rate.

    Lugar has led ABA for about a year, and she said she couldn't comment on past positions the industry took in opposition to bottle bills.

    While Lugar said she believes there are problems within the current state-by-state bottle bill landscape, she stopped short of commenting on the idea of a national bottle bill that would create a unified standard across the country.

    ABA represents companies in the nonalcoholic beverage industry, with members including soft drink giants as well as local bottlers and industry suppliers.

    About 72 percent of ABA members' products are packaged in PET bottles in the United States, Lugar said, and aluminum checks in at 22 percent. Glass is 1 percent, and other packaging is at about 5 percent.

    "I think we all know there is a heightened scrutiny around so-called single-use plastics. Not only have we seen this increasingly come up in the halls of Congress and in governors' mansions and state legislatures [but also] corporate earnings calls. And I can say this, my own kitchen table, where my environmentally passionate 14-year-old has been driving this point home with us well before I started this job," Lugar told the audience.

    "We're going to have to really understand how to define and differentiate our product as not single use because what is so important to explain to people is that very intentionally, our PET plastic bottles were made to be remade," she said. "The problem is people don't know it."

    Every Bottle Back includes an education campaign, with an upcoming unified on-package message regarding recyclability, and funding community recycling efforts.

    The Dallas-Fort Worth area was recently announced as the first to receive funding through the Every Bottle Back program to improve recycling infrastructure to capture more PET bottles.

    A materials recycling facility owned by Balcones Resources is receiving $2 million to make improvements including optical sortation, "machinery with artificial intelligence" and robotic arms for separation, ABA has said.

    Other efforts include work in both Dallas and Fort Worth to improve recycling access and education, and North Central Texas Council of Governments, which includes 230 communities, will aim to decrease recycling contamination.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    People in plastics: Week of Nov. 27, 2023
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    PVC, PS prices drop in November
    2
    Plastics Industry Association, Radoszewski file paperwork to settle legal battles
    3
    North American injection press shipments drop for the quarter
    4
    Judge dismisses PFAS class-action suit that targeted range of materials companies
    5
    Don't undersell impact of plastics treaty talks
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CFO of the Year
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified