[GreenYes] RELEASE: NY Times Op Ad - "Coke & Pepsi: STOP Trashing America"

["Bill Sheehan" <zerowaste@grrn.org>]

NEWS RELEASE
April 16, 2002
Contact:  Lance King  (703) 536-7282 (direct)
 
COKE AND PEPSI RESPONSIBLE FOR 
"TRASHING AMERICA,"
HURTING TAXPAYERS AND ENVIRONMENT
 
NEW YORK (April 16, 2002) - Coke and Pepsi are 
responsible for a dramatic increase in 
packaging waste over the last ten years, 
hurting taxpayers and the environment.  
Launching a new national campaign with an 
advertisement on the New York Times 'Op Ed' 
page today, two national organizations charge 
Coke and Pepsi with "trashing America."
 
"Coke and Pepsi waste from used aluminum cans, 
plastic and glass bottles doubled between 1992 
and 2000, according to industry data.  A 
financial incentive is urgently needed to 
reverse the decline in bottle and can recycling 
rates.  Ten states with refundable deposits on 
beverage containers recycle more bottles and 
cans than the other 40 states put together, at 
almost no cost to taxpayers," Pat Franklin, 
executive director of the Container Recycling 
Institute, said today.
 
"We've chosen to launch a new national campaign 
in New York City today because decisions here 
about handling beverage containers have 
national implications.
New York State is one of ten states with a 
beverage container deposit law, popularly known 
as the bottle bill.  Deposit laws achieve the 
highest rates of recycling in the nation - 78 
percent on average. Coke and Pepsi have fought 
these laws for more than 30 years, and want to 
roll back this sound environmental policy," 
Franklin said.
 
The Container Recycling Institute is a 
national, nonprofit research and education 
organization, based in Arlington, Virginia.  It 
received a grant from the Florence Fund for the 
issue advocacy advertisement placed in the New 
York Times today.
 
"We believe that companies producing and 
selling beverages must be made accountable for 
their packaging waste.  The principle is known 
as producer responsibility, which is a growing 
trend in policies adopted around the world," 
GrassRoots Recycling Network Executive Director 
Bill Sheehan said.
 
"Our goal is achieving an 80 percent national 
recycling rate for aluminum cans, plastic and 
glass bottles, roughly double the current 
rate," Sheehan said.
 
"While litter and landfill waste are the first 
ways most people think about recycling of 
beverage containers, the environmental 
footprint left by throwing away millions of 
bottles and cans every hour is really much 
bigger than that.  We have a choice to pursue 
an 80 percent national recycling rate, and save 
the equivalent of 640 million barrels of oil in 
the next decade, or leave a legacy of waste," 
CRI Senior Policy Analyst Lance King said.
 
      The Container Recycling Institute and 
GrassRoots Recycling Network are launching a 
new Internet website today as part of their 
joint campaign:  www.saveabottle.org.
 
      On Wednesday, April 17 leaders from both 
organizations plan to carry their message to 
The Coca-Cola Company annual meeting at Madison 
Square Garden, where they will urge 
shareholders to support a recycling resolution.
 
      In Hawaii, the Legislature is poised to 
adopt the first new state deposit law in 16 
years, but Coke and Pepsi are leading the 
battle to defeat it between now and when the 
legislators adjourn on May 2nd. 
 
      "Earlier this month, the beverage and 
grocery industries waged the first successful 
campaign to repeal a deposit law - the nation's 
only local deposit ordinance in Columbia, 
Missouri," King said.  "The most disturbing 
aspect is the way corporate money and a 
campaign based on deception corrupted the 
democratic process."
 
      "Next week, CRI and GRRN will carry 
concerns about Coke and Pepsi waste to the 
nation's capital.  We will advocate a new 
policy approach, based on producer 
responsibility for product and packaging waste" 
Sheehan said.
 
      The Container Recycling Institute plans 
to release a series of reports in coming months 
on the growing beverage container waste 
problem, deposit laws worldwide, and an 
examination of the 30-year war waged by Coke 
and Pepsi against deposit laws," Franklin said.
 
      For more information about the Container 
Recycling Institute, visit the Internet at: 
www.container-recycling.org and 
www.bottlebill.info.
 
      For more information on GRRN, visit the 
Internet at:  www.grrn.org.
 
      Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo 
shareholders can vote for the recycling 
resolutions by going to: www.saveabottle.org 
and selecting the proxy voting links.
 
###

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