[GreenYes] BEAR STANDS FIRMLY BEHIND REPORT

[Pat Franklin <pfranklin@container-recycling.org>]

SORRY FOR CROSS POSTINGS

TO:  Bottle Bill Action Network Listserve
FR:  Pat Franklin, ED, Container Recycling Institute
RE:  NSDA Critique of the BEAR Report

The following information (see url below) will be useful to you in answering
questions elected officials, the media and activists may have about the
validity of the BEAR report .  NSDA's effort to discredit the BEAR report
was really an effort to defeat new bottle bill proposals in Hawaii and more
than a dozen other states, promoting repeal of bottle bills in Iowa and
Columbia, Missouri where active repeal efforts are underway and preventing
expansion of bottle bills in Michigan, Vermont and New York.
====================================================

BEAR STANDS FIRMLY BEHIND THE COST ESTIMATES AND VALIDITY
OF THEIR STUDY TITLED "Understanding Beverage Container Recycling"

As most of you know, the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) issued a
press statement seeking to discredit the BEAR report, soon after it was
released in early January.  BEAR's consulting team, including R.W. Beck,
Inc., Franklin Associates, Ltd., the Tellus Institute, Sound Resource
Management Group, Inc., and Boisson & Associates, reviewed in detail
the NSDA-commissioned analysis of BEAR's findings prepared by
Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants.  BEAR then
invited representatives of NSDA, Northbridge and Coca-Cola North America
to discuss the analysis by phone."
Yesterday, BEAR issued a press release and a response prepared by the
consulting team that addresses each of NSDA's points of criticism of the
study.  The following url will take you to the press release, the consulting
team's response, the BEAR/MSRP report and list of MSRP participants.
http://www.globalgreen.org/bear/

We will soon have a link from our website to the BEAR page.
==============================================
What is BEAR?

Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR) is
a unique alliance of businesses, recyclers, environmentalists and
other stakeholders working to maximize the recycling of beverage
containers. In 1999, only 41 percent of beverage containers
were recycled, amounting to the annual disposal of 114.4 billion
beverage containers (7.7 million tons).  Aluminum can recycling
rates dropped from a peak of 65 percent in 1992 to 55 percent
in 1999, the lowest level in the last decade. PET bottles were
only recycled at a 20 percent rate. Bear's goal is to increase the
national recycling rate of all beverage containers 80 percent.
The BEAR project embodies GG USA's mission of working as a
mediator, facilitator, and catalyst to eliminate waste, support
sustainable businesses and jobs, and protect the environment.








Below is an email I sent to the trade publications (see attachment for
complete list). To my knowledge, these are the trades that have been
following this issue. If you know of others in your network that have seen
the NSDA press release and/or the Northbridge Study, please direct them to
our website. All the information and documents (including the Northbridge
study and press releases from other organizations) are now available on our
public site. If you have any concerns about any of this information being
publicly available, or concerns over the way in which it is all presented,
please let me know asap.


Pat Franklin
Executive Director
Container Recycling Institute
1911 Ft Myer Drive, Suite 702
Arlington, Virginia  22209
703.276.9800  fax 703.276.9587
email:PFranklin@Container-Recycling.org
www.Container-Recycling.org
www.BottleBill.org
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