Today's Topics:
Cities Which have done surveys on willingness to participate
Pigmented Milk Bottles and Milk Bottle Labels
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Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 15:25:12 +0000
From: "Caroline Brimblecombe" <caroline.brimblecombe.pt@norfolk.gov.uk>
Subject: Cities Which have done surveys on willingness to participate
Hello Prof. Caplan,
I recommend you get in touch with Lisa Skumatz, Skumatz Economic
Research Associates - I hope I have accurately relayed the name of
her firm (?SERA) - I believe she is based in Seattle.
Someone else on GreenYes may have her contact details.
The Tellus Institute may also have some info for you. They have a
web site which I do not have the URL for, but should be
easily locatable.
Regards
Caroline Truth Brimblecombe
> Hello everybody. I am writing from the campus of Weber State
> University, located in beautiful Ogden, Utah. I am a professor of
> economics here, and I am in the beginning phase of analyzing some
> survey data recently collected from Ogden city's residents. The survey
> (conducted over the phone by a private research firm) queried residents'
> willingness to participate in and to pay for various types of recycling
> programs - curbside, centralized drop-off, and green waste pickup.
> (Believe it or not there still are medium-sized cities in this country that
> have successfully eschewed such programs). In an effort to estimate
> what could explain the variation in the respondants' answers, the city of
> Ogden has graciously provided me with the complete data set. Based on
> this survey, I may be able to draw some qualified conclusions, but surely
> my conclusions would be more generalizable if I have more data,
> particularly from other parts of the country.
>
> That's where this posting comes in. Does anyone know of other cities
> which have performed such surveys in the recent past? If so, can you
> give me some contacts? Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Arthur Caplan
Caroline Truth Brimblecombe
United Kingdom
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Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 10:11:39 -0500
From: "RecycleWorlds" <anderson@msn.fullfeed.com>
Subject: Pigmented Milk Bottles and Milk Bottle Labels
Previously, there was a substantial dialog on Greenyes concerning
Hood Dairy's decision to pigment their milk bottles. This is to
followup with more recent activity in the Northeast which is Hood's
market.
The larger dairy in the area is Garelick Farms. Even though Hood
has been giving substantial discounts to boost market share to
"justify" its pigmentation decision, Garelick refused to go along and
has committed to continuing with the traditional transluscent bottle.
Moreover, Garelick has done something else too of major import to
recyclers. One of the more intractable contaminants in recycled HDPE
milk jugs has been the adhesives used in to hold on the label. Rubber
based adhesives are used with milk jugs and some other applications,
because they adhere well to milk jugs even in the presence of
condensation that accumulates on the container especially when it is
removed from a refrigerator during the summer. However, these
adhesives are difficult to remove during reprocessing. (Acrylic based
adhesives are more compatible with recycling processes because they
tend to disperse much better during the washing stages, especially
under alkaline conditions. However, most acrylics do not bond as well
as rubber and tend to be slightly more expensive.)
Research to address this issue is currently being undertaken by
the Tag and Label Institute and the National Association for Plastic
Container Recovery. A technical fix involving reformulation of the
adhesive has been one line of inquiry. This has involved using an
additive with an acrylic that would maintain its adhesion to the HDPE
substrate even when non-alkaline cold water droplets form on a
refrigerated bottle's surface, yet retain acrylic's tendency to lose
its tackiness when placed in warm alkaline wash water used in the
recycling process. Early indications, unfortunately, suggested that
while this would "fix" the problem, the acrylic would impose a
slightly higher cost. Since diary's are a low margin industry that
buy solely on price, the practicality of that route looked unclear.
Garelick looked "outside the box" for a solution, and, in the
process came up with an answer that completely eliminates the need for
an adhesive at all, and does so without any cost penalty. The answer
is as elegant as it is simple: they used a polypropylene shrink wrap.
Normally shrink wraps have been used with cylindrical bottles on which
the shrinkage holds them in place. However, this does not work on
non-cylindrical shapes such as the rounded edge, square shape of milk
bottle. To adapt the shrink wrap to a milk bottle, Garelick
redesigned the bottle mold to provide an indentation in the vertical
wall of the bottle for the label to be seated and held in place.
As we all have seen, it is becoming far less common for company's
that use plastic containers to evince any interest in helping
recyclers in today's climate. To have a company in a low margin
commodity industry invest R&D to improve recycling really stands out
deserving for commendation.
I nominated Garelick for the National Recycling Coalition's
Outstanding Corporate Leadership Award (if anyone wants a copy of the
nomination as a WordPerfect 5.1 attachment, let me know). If anyone
else would like to write to support the nomination, that would be very
useful. Support letters should be sent to:
1998 NRC Awards Program
c/o SERA
1511 Third Avenue Suite 1000
Seattle, WA 98101
If you do, please send me a copy so I can pass it along to
Garelick. It's important that they get as much positive feedback as
possible.
________________
Peter Anderson
RecycleWorlds Consulting
4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com
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End of GreenYes Digest V98 #127
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