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NEED FOR PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY
What is alarming is not the challenges the
bottle creates, but Miller's lack of
attention to or acknowledgment of those
challenges. Miller's decisions, by its own
admission, have been driven primarily by
marketing, with insufficient regard given to
the impacts of the bottle on the recycling
stream. The bottles are now finding their
way into recycling programs in the test
markets and those programs do not have the
capacity to sort, market, or otherwise
process the containers. So, the bottles are
either contaminating the PET stream, or
being thrown away. And, Miller has made no
commitment to aid in the development of
mechanisms to adapt our recycling systems to
accommodate their new bottle once it goes
national.
The GrassRoots Recycling Network is urging
that Miller make the following commitments
before rolling out the new plastic bottle
nationwide:
1. Ensure that the Miller bottle is
compatible with current PET recycling.
2. Ensure that the bottle will not increase
costs for local governments and recyclers.
3. Remove the #1 PETE SPI Code designation
(and use #7 Other) until the bottle has been
demonstrated to be compatible with the PET
recycling.
4. Use at least 25 percent recycled content
in all bottles.
The choice is clear. Miller can shirk its
responsibility, saddle taxpayers and local
governments with additional costs and
disposal burdens, and drive a nail in the
coffin of the PET recycling industry. Or,
it can take responsibility for its
innovation, ensure that its bottle is
compatible with the current PET recycling
system and doesn't add any costs to
recycling programs.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Recycling advocates, public officials and
consumers in the six test market areas and
around the country should let Miller know
that it must take responsibility for its new
bottle. Miller must ensure that if and when
the bottle is rolled out nationally, it will
be made compatible with the current recycled
PET streams and will not increase the costs
for local governments and recyclers.
You can help send a message to the Miller
Brewing Company that it can not disregard
the impacts its new package has on our
recycling programs by taking the following
actions:
1. WRITE A LETTER TO MILLER BREWING COMPANY:
Let Miller know that it should not roll out
the new package, and that you will not buy
it, until the company takes responsibility
for its impacts on the waste stream.
Address your concerns to:
John N. MacDonough Phone: (414) 931-2000
Chief Executive Officer Fax: (414) 931-
3735
Miller Brewing Company
3939 W. Highland Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0482
Send copies of your letter to:
* Dan Barthold, Director of Environmental &
Energy Engineering, Miller Brewing Co.
(same address).
* GrassRoots Recycling Network, P.O. Box
49283, Athens, GA 30604.
* Plastics News, 814 National Press Blvd,
Washington, DC 20046.
* Beverage World, 226 26th Street, 10th
Floor, New York, NY 10001.
* Your local newspaper.
2. WORK TO PASS A RESOLUTION: You can pass
an organizational, local government or
state-wide resolution calling on Miller to
commit that its new bottle will (1) be
compatible with the current recycled PET
stream, (2) include recycled content, and
(3) not impose additional costs on local
governments, taxpayers, or PET recyclers. A
model resolution is available from GRRN.
3. EDUCATE THE PUBLIC: Inform consumers that
they should not buy or use the Miller
plastic bottle until the company takes
responsibility for its introduction.
************************
Bill Sheehan
Network Coordinator
GrassRoots Recycling Network
P.O. Box 49283
Athens GA 30604-9283
Tel: 706-613-7121
Fax: 706-613-7123
zerowaste@grrn.org
http://www.grrn.org
************************