IBWA April May 2010 - 21

Recycling
Another way bottled water companies work to protect the environment is by actively promoting recycling. IBWA works with legislators, regulators, civic leaders, recycling advocates, and others to support legislation and initiatives that improve curbside recycling efforts and increase recycling at parks, sporting venues, other on-the-go locations, as well as in the home and office. In addition to those efforts, IBWA was a founding member of the National Recycling Partnership under the National Recycling Coalition, which sponsored a campaign to reignite American interest in recycling by providing clear, consistent information on what, how and why to recycle (http://bit.ly/d7nW0u). And what packaged product is the most recycled in the United States? Plastic beverage bottles. All plastic bottled water containers—from individual serving size to 5-gallon jugs—are fully recyclable (where recycling facilities exist) and should be properly recycled through whatever system a local municipality has in place. In 2008, the national recycling rate for PET plastic bottled water containers (.5 liter or 16.9 ounce) stood at 30.9 percent, an improvement of 32 percent over the 2007 rate, according to two studies by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR): “2008 Post Consumer PET Bottle Bale Composition Analysis” and “2008 Report on PET Water Bottle Recycling” (www.napcor.com). A look at recycling percentages during the past several years shows steady improvement. The 2007 NAPCOR study on water bottle recycling showed the recycling rate for water bottles was 23.4 percent, representing a 16.42 percent increase over the 2006 recycling rate of 20.1 percent. While the increase in recycling is encouraging, IBWA knows that still more needs to be done. And perhaps light-weighting packaging, described below, can help.

the average PET bottled water container weighed 18.9 grams; by 2008, the average amount of PET resin in each bottle declined to 12.7 grams. In 2008 alone, the bottled water industry saved 445 million pounds of PET plastic by reducing the weight of its plastic bottles.

1,200M 900M
0

,68

29

41

,65

16

91

4,1

,76

2,5

,09

,68

06

,46

0
2000

2001

6,9

2002

20

2003

43

2004

80

2005

13

0,2

300M

41

62

0,7

6

2006

23

9,9

2007

36

3

8,5

44

2008

5,4

600M

2

,89

37

,49

1

Source: Beverage Marketing Corporation

The Original Recyclers
A colleague of mine was once asked, “What do you say to critics who suggest bottled water companies don’t care about the environment?” Her response: “They don’t know us very well.” (To view the interview, go to http://bit.ly/bKiDci.) The bottled water industry first got its reputation as an “original recycler” because of our use—and reuse—of glass bottles to deliver water to homes in the 19th century. (Purchaser’s objective: Avoid waterborne illnesses from municipal water supplies that did not yet use chlorine for purification.) In the 21st century, bottled water companies are upholding that moniker through proactive approaches to environmental sustainability. We’ve done a lot—reduced the weight of our bottles, promoted recycling, added hybrid trucks to our fleets, built LEED-certified facilities, continued to manage groundwater sources, lobbied for comprehensive sustainability policies—but we know there’s more to be done. Through continued proactive environmental sustainability efforts—and the LCI results reviewed here—bottled water companies can benchmark future improvements and communicate our good stewardship to consumers, legislators, and the media. IBWA members recognize that we have a responsibility to protect the environment for future generations—we’ve been protecting it for years. Patrick Goguillon is president of retail at DS Waters in Atlanta and co-chair of IBWA’s Environmental Sustainability and Communications Committees.

Light-Weighting
In tandem with the new NAPCOR studies, IBWA tracked the average amount of plastic used in .5 liter (16.9 ounce) PET bottles, using published data from the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) to determine a light-weighting trend in the industry. The discovery: The average gram weight per plastic bottle has declined significantly during the past eight years. In 2000, the average weight of a plastic water bottle was 18.9 grams and has continued to decline consistently on an annual basis. BMC’s latest data for IBWA shows that during the past eight years the gram weight of the 16.9 ounce single-serve bottled water container has dropped by 32.6 percent: In 2000,

1,3

Total

35

Pounds Saved by Gram Weight Reductions in 16.9oz PET Bottles 2000-2008 1,500M

U.S. Bottle Water Market

,29

4,9

50

Bottled Water

April/MAy 2010

21
IBWA April May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IBWA April May 2010
