GreenYes Digest V96 #51

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Fri, 22 Jan 1999 16:11:26 -0500


GreenYes Digest Mon, 16 Dec 96 Volume 96 : Issue 51

Today's Topics:
Plastics Actions -Reply
Plastics Actions -Reply -Reply

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 09:20:53 -0800
From: dassmann@sirius.com (David Assmann)
Subject: Plastics Actions -Reply

Chaz Miller's comment that the EPA considers plastics to make up 11.2% of
landfill volume isn't consistent with the information I have from the EPA.
The latest Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States:
1995 update lists the weight of plastics in municipal solid waste as 19.8
million tons - 9.5% of the total by weight. The current report doesn't
list materials by volume, but in the past the EPA has listed materials by
volume. In the 1992 update, the EPA concluded that plastics made up 21.1%
of the volume of municipal solid waste - and that was for 1990!

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Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 13:04:43 -0500
From: Chaz Miller <cmiller@envasns.org>
Subject: Plastics Actions -Reply -Reply

David Assmann wrote: "Chaz Miller's comment that the EPA considers
plastics to make up 11.2% of landfill volume isn't consistent with the
information I have from the EPA.
The latest Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States:
1995 update lists the weight of plastics in municipal solid waste as 19.8
million tons - 9.5% of the total by weight. The current report doesn't
list materials by volume, but in the past the EPA has listed materials by
volume. In the 1992 update, the EPA concluded that plastics made up
21.1% of the volume of municipal solid waste - and that was for 1990!"

RESPONSE: David is absolutely right about the 92 update data.
I was referring specifically to plastic packaging because the original
e-mail involved PET packaging.
EPA's most recent estimate of discard volumes came in its 1994 Update.
In that update, plastics are listed at 23.9% of discarded MSW by volume
and 11.5% by weight.
Plastic packaging is estimated to be 11.6% of MSW discards by volume.
The remaining 12.3% of plastic discard volume comes from what EPA
categorizes as durable plastic products.
EPA acknowledges that it guessed at durable densities by assigning "the
average density of nondurable products that have the same densities."
Estimates of the volume of landill space used by individual products or by
classes of materials have to be taken with a grain of leachate. They are
guestimates, not hard science. They may be a cut above phrenology in
scientific rigor, but should they be used to make or justify public policy?
Chaz

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End of GreenYes Digest V96 #51
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