I was making a bunch of displays with the students in my office a few
weeks back for UNH's Earth Day Fair, put on annually by SEAC. One display
was "what recyclables are made into." We included both an aluminum can,
and, a glass bottle. On each I decided to put a more descriptive phrase.
At first the phrases read, "100% recycled can" and "100% recycled
bottle." Then I decided to drag out some manufacturing specifications
(great descriptives written in UIC's monthly newsletter). In the
newsletter, it suggested that only 30% glass cullet (that would be the
recycled glass) was used by most glass remanufacturers, although several
were attempting to incorporate more glass cullet (the article wasn't new).
Well, the glass that we had already superglued to the display was, of
course, a Minute Maid. I called up the 800 number to find out for sure how
much recycled content in the glass, only to get the initial response,
"Coke, may we help you?"
Here's what I found out. Glass bottles have 30% recycled glass
cullet, aluminum cans are made out of 50% recycled aluminum, and...Coke is
sold in recycled PET in other countries because it is "economically
feasible." Phone-man didn't know why it was economically feasible in other
countries while it wasn't here, but telepathically we surmised together,
that other countries must fine industries that find it uneconomically
feasible to use glass, aluminum, or, recycled PET. That's the long and
short of it anyways.
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R.J. HERMAN
Recycling Coordinator
University of New Hampshire
Grounds and Roads Dept.
21 Waterworks Rd.
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH 03824-3519
PHONE: (603) 862-3100
FAX: (603) 862-0139
E-MAIL: rjh1@christa.unh.edu
The opinions expressed here
do not necessarily reflect those
of the University System of
New Hampshire
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