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Buying Recycled-Content Product

Recycled-content product lines: Thanks in large part to citizen demand, recycled material is turning up in an increasing array of products and packaging. By seeking out and selecting those products, you can encourage manufacturers to use recycled material in their feedstock and motivate them to use even more recycled material.

Sure things in recycled-content packaging

A high percentage of post-consumer materials can be found in four types of product packaging:

• Aluminum beverage cans: The average aluminum beverage can is made of more than 51 percent recycled aluminum from old beverage cans. With more than five of every 10 aluminum cans being recycled in the United States, they are the most recycled beverage container.

• Glass bottles and jars: Approximately 35 percent of glass in glass bottles in the United States is recycled material. Generally, glass must be separated by color to have value in new bottle manufacture, but mixed glass is also used as abrasives in sandblasting, aggregate in roadbed construction, beads in reflective paint, frictionators in matches and ammunition and other applications.

• Steel cans: A little less than 60 percent of steel cans sold in this country are returned for recycling into a variety of products. More than 28 percent of the steel in an average steel can is post-consumer.

• Molded pulp containers: Paperboard egg cartons, fruit trays and flower pots are made from high percentages of recycled paper. Overall, recycled paper supplies about 35 percent of the U.S. paper industries’ raw materials.

Better check: Recycled material is used to produce several other types of packaging and nondurable goods, but they compete with items made with no post-consumer material that often are priced lower than recycled-content counterparts. Seeking and purchasing recycled content items can be particularly important as it sends a strong signal to manufacturers that recycling is good for business:

• Paperboard boxes: Recovered paper and paperboard accounted for nearly 38 percent of new paper production in the United States in 1998, but read the label for post-consumer content.

• Plastic bottles and jugs: Of the two types of plastic beverage containers generally accepted by residential recycling programs, HDPE is generally used to make plastic lumber and containers for non-food items. PET goes primarily into textiles and carpeting. Soft drink and bottled water makers have been slow to use recycled PET in new bottles, but new technology (developed with the support of an ODNR Recycling Market Development Grant) is making this sort of “closed loop” recycling more feasible. America’s plastics manufacturers have far more capacity to use recycled plastic than consumers are recycling. Plastics’ increasing role in consumer packaging make it particularly important to recycle plastic and to seek products made from post-consumer plastic.

• Bath and facial tissue, napkins and paper towel: Competitive in performance and price with non-recycled alternatives, These disposable paper products are often made from lower grades of mixed paper. While not recycled into new paper products for obvious reasons, paper products that are flushed after use are often composted with other wastewater sludge. Other paper tissues and towels can be added to the kitchen scrap compost pile.

• Writing paper and envelopes: The push by some business and government agencies to provide markets for high-grade recycled office paper helped make high-grade recycled papers more widely available.

RECYCLED-CONTENT PRODUCT LINES
Recycled materials are also appearing in an increasing array of durable goods and other consumer products. Sometimes this is driven by consumer expectations, sometimes by the cost savings that using recycled materials can provide.

Some of this recycling is hidden: all steel contains at least 25 percent recycled steel; most aluminum engine blocks contain recycled metal. Some of it is self-evident: retreaded tires, reconditioned batteries and remanufactured computers.

Often, recycled-content products cost more than their non-recycled competition, but that may be offset by savings in maintenance. Plastic lumber decking is more expensive than wood, but it lasts longer and requires no painting or varnishing. Recycled aluminum roofing shingles cost more than some alternatives, but have a longer warranty.

Recycled-content product lines can be found among:

	Automotive parts and supplies: Recycled aluminum, plastic and steel are used increasingly in making car parts. Recycled plastic is used to make ice scrapers, license plate holders, oil pans, bed liners and more. Regular automotive maintenance improves performance and contributes to waste reduction by prolonging the useful life of automotive parts.
	Construction: Steel has always contained recycled material, and some carpet and textile makers have long been using postconsumer plastic. Recycled aluminum is used in siding and roofing, glass in windows. Recycled paper is used to make wallboard, ceiling tiles and doors. New specifications for plastic lumber and decking have increased use of this versatile, durable alternative.
	Lawn and garden: Recycled plastic offers a durable, low-maintenance alternative to wood for products such as birdfeeders, bins, edging and fencing, garden hoses, landscape timbers, mailboxes, tables and benches, planters, playground equipment, decks, trellises and weed control blankets. Crumb rubber is used as loose fill in play areas and as a backfill substitute for gravel.
	Hobbies and recreation: Look for recycled paper content in sketch pads and craft paper, sporting and camping equipment made with recycled plastic, aluminum and steel. There are tremendous waste reduction and reuse opportunities: Seek non-profit organizations such as re:ART in Columbus, that distribute unused office supplies and paints to Ohio artists and schools.
	Home furnishings and products: Recycled plastic is used in everything from trash bags and trash cans, storage bins and cleaning utensils to the textiles and padding used in rugs and furniture. Recycled steel is found in large and small appliances. Recycled paper is used in some furniture as well as some wall coverings. Look for floor mats made from recycled rubber.
	Home office and electronics: There are recycled-content versions of nearly every variety of stationery, copier paper and other office paper products. Recycled plastic is used to make writing utensils and other desk accessories. The replacement of millions of home computers and anticipation of a wave of upgrades to HDTV technology have spurred the growth of electronics remanufacturing and recycling programs.
	Personal items: Recycled plastic is used to make a wide variety of synthetic textiles, from polyester t-shirts to insulation for winter coats and quilts. Also look for recycled plastic in personal care products like brushes and thermometers, as well as entertainment items like audio and video tape cassettes. Chose recycled paper content in items like greeting cards, wrapping paper and computer paper.

17.04.2007. 07:04

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