Transcript Bottled Water - U.S. Conference of Mayors

BOTTLED WATER: THE IMPACT
ON MUNICIPAL WASTE STREAMS
Brett Rosenberg
The U.S. Conference of Mayors
May 1, 2008
New York City
BOTTLED WATER: THE IMPACT ON
MUNICIPAL WASTE STREAMS
RESOLUTION 90: IMPORTANCE OF MUNICIPAL WATER
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WHEREAS, more than a quarter of bottled water is sourced from municipal tap water;
and
WHEREAS, bottled water must travel many miles from the source, resulting in the
burning of massive amounts of fossil fuels, releasing CO2 and other pollution into the
atmosphere; and
WHEREAS, plastic water bottles are one of the fastest growing sources of municipal
waste; and
WHEREAS, in the U.S. the plastic bottles produced for water require 1.5 million
barrels of oil per year, enough to generate electricity for 250,000 homes or fuel
100,000 cars for a year; and…
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The US Conference of Mayors
encourage a compilation of information regarding the importance of municipal water
and the impact of bottled water on municipal waste.
Bottled Water & Municipal Waste
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Definitions
Consumption & Demand
Recycling Opportunities and Challenges
Solid Waste
Other Environmental Concerns
Bottled Water & Municipal Waste
“The production, packaging, distribution and
consumption patterns of the different types of bottled
water vary considerably.”
• Non-carbonated, or “still” water
• Individual bottles, either sold separately or in bulk
• Plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate
(PET or PETE)
Demand/Consumption
• Americans bought a total of 8.3 billion gallons of
bottled water in 2006, sold in a variety of
containers from small single‐serving bottles to
multi‐gallon water cooler bottles.
• Of this amount, non‐carbonated water totaled 7.3
billion gallons, or 88% of the total bottled water
market
• Individual PET containers accounted for 4.7 billion
gallons, i.e., 57% of the bottled water market.
U.S Bottled Water Market Per Capita Consumption 2002 -2007
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
16 oz Bottles Per Capita
Annual % Change
0
2002
Gallons via PET Bottle, Per Capita
2003
2004
2005
Gallons Per Capita
2006
2007 (P)
Demand/Consumption
• According to the Container Recycling Institute, Americans buy
an estimated 25 billion single‐serving, plastic water bottles
each year.
• Another source estimates that Americans went through about
50 billion plastic water bottles last year, about 167 per person.
• The Container Recycling Institute states that Non‐sparkling
bottled water sales doubled in three years: going from 15
billion units sold in 2002 to 29.8 billion sold in 2005.
– This is almost seven times the 3.8 billion units sold in 1997.
Sales of plastic water bottles 1 liter or less increased more than
115%, from 13 billion in 2002 to 27.9 billion in 2005.
Recycling Opportunities
“At present, the market for post‐consumer PET bottles … in the
United States is strong. However, there is a growing gap between
the demand for post‐consumer bottles and the available supply.
Simply put, there are not enough post-consumer bottles in the
recycling system to satisfy the demands of the domestic PET
reclaimers.”
But…
Demand for post‐consumer PET containers collected by local
recycling programs have made it difficult for domestic materials
reclaimers to compete and has led to much consolidation throughout
the industry
Recycling Opportunities
Meanwhile…
• Exports aside, in 2004, there were more than 3633 million pounds
million of domestic scrap PET bottles that could have been
recycled, but were not.
• One estimate claims that about 12% of water bottles are recycled,
while 88% of plastic water bottles end up as garbage or litter (this
study does not readily specify a particular bottle type or material)
• A similar report claims that at most, PET recycling rates are
estimated at 23%, when considered with other PET beverage
containers.
• Industry sources put the PET recycling rate at 24 to 26 percent,
while the overall HDPE recycling rate which may be considered
comparable to PET recycling rates, reached 28 percent.
Recycling Opportunities
• It is safe to say that the overall PET recycling rate is below 30 percent.
• In 1995, PET recycling reached 39.7 percent.
• Over the past 15 years,. The number of beverage containers sold
increased over 40 percent, while beverage container recycling rates
declined by about one‐third.
• PET plastic is generally only good for recycling once and usually for
different products with different material requirements, such as carpet
or clothing.
• Large, multi‐gallon polycarbonate carboys, used in home and office
delivery services, are re‐usable 40‐50 times; many bottled water
providers claim that their products are recycled into new products
following life as a continually reused container.
Recycling Opportunities
• Curbside Recycling
•Widespread
•Favored by bottled water industry
•Effectiveness depends on local resources and market for PET
• Bottle Bills
•Only three states with programs that extend to water bottles
•Favored by much of the environmental community
•Of debatable effectiveness
• Definite need for more recycling opportunities
•At points of use
•At public events
Municipal Waste
•According to beverage industry data, in 2006, PET bottled water
containers produced 827,000 tons of scrap PET.
• By weight, this amounts to 3/10 of one percent of all municipal
solid waste generated in 2006; 5.8 percent of all plastic packaging
produced; and 2.8 percent of all plastics entering the waste stream
each year.
•Through improvements in packaging technology, the beverage industry
in 2008 will be able to reduce, or “lightweight” by over 100 million
pounds the amount of PET resin necessary to manufacture bottles.
• 827,000 tons equals 1.654 billion pounds, removing 100 million
pounds from the equation still leaves 1.554 billion pounds of PET
from water bottles in the waste stream.
Municipal Waste
The major bottlers and distributers (Nestle, Coke, Pepsi and others) are
increasing their capacities to recover and reuse bottles.
But…
•An estimated 88% of plastic water bottles end up as garbage or litter.
•Landfilled water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
Fortunately…
•Due to their relative longevity and inert compositions, the bottles do not
contribute to leachate or gaseous emissions from landfills.
Environmental Impacts
•Specialized mineral waters fair very poorly against tap water in
terms of the petroleum or natural gas used as a feedstock in
bottles and the power necessary to produce the bottles and fill
them with water; the greenhouse gas emissions from that stem
from production and transportation; and other measures.
•Even municipal water that is filtered, bottled and transported to
points of sale or use is 25 to 50 percent higher in terms of overall
environmental impact.
•The Container Recycling Institute estimates that producing PET,
which is a petroleum or natural gas product, for bottles used 18
million barrels of crude oil equivalents in 2005, producing 800
metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions.