Letter to Editor: Eliminating collection of plastics irresponsible

Letter to the editor in response to Kibler, W. (2020, February 23) “Collectible or not? Hauler wants IRC to trash plastic recycling,” Altoona Mirror.

Eliminating Collection of Plastics Irresponsible

March 30, 2020

The suggestion by Burgmeier’s Hauling that the Intermunicipal Relations Committee eliminate curbside plastic collection in Altoona, Logan Township and Hollidaysburg – as detailed in a Feb. 23 article – is irresponsible.

The vast majority of recycled plastic is PET (polyethylene terephthalate, marked by a #1), which is 100% and infinitely recyclable; more than 1.8 billion pounds of it is collected in the U.S. every year and transformed into everything from beverage containers to athletic apparel.

If you strip Americans of their ability to recycle PET right at their doorsteps, you mitigate the PET industry’s positive impact on consumer options and the economy, and in doing so, threaten the health of our environment and the sustainability of our planet.

I am fortunate to be the executive director of the National Association for PET Container Resources — the trade group for the PET plastic packaging industry in the U.S., Canada and Mexico – and to have had the opportunity to see the evolution of PET as the differentiator in the plastic bottles and packaging arena.

We just launched a nationwide “Positively PET” campaign to educate the public about the benefits of PET, including its recyclability.

As Pete Previte from the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center pointed out, the market for clean plastics (most notably, PET) is expanding. And, if just 200,000 people recycled one more PET bottle every day, it would eliminate another 1,150 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Worldwide results have shown that a combination of container deposit and curbside programs is needed to maximize recycling rates.

I urge the IRC not to be hasty in choosing one over the other or worse yet, eliminating the latter without both enacting a bottle bill and embarking on a comprehensive public awareness campaign regarding the changes.

Darrel Collier
Executive Director
NAPCOR
Charlotte, N.C.