Here's what I sent to Borden/Eagle and similar to a couple of smaller water
companies,
Please feel free to copy and do likewise as you run across PVC bottles,
maybe we can make them go away:
Borden/Eagle Family Foods
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3799
Ref: Your polyvinyl choride #3 non-dairy creamer bottles
Dear Eagle Foods:
I manage the Orange Community Recycling program in Orange County North
Carolina and I writing to request that you change the packaging you use for
non-dairy creamer to a bottle made from either PETE #1 Polyethylene
Terephthalate or HDPE #2 High Density Polyethylene both of which are
recyclable. The PVC #3 Polyvinyl Chloride bottles you now use are not
recyclable anywhere in this country. Some evidence suggests that the
manufacture and use of chlorinated compounds may contribute to the dioxin
loads in our global system.
There is a very small volume of PVC bottles and they ruin the PET when they
are inadvertently mixed for recycling because the PVC resin has a much lower
melting point than PET. When the flakes of recycled material are heated to
be melted for reuse as fiber any PVC in the mix first chars, then the char
creates black flecks throughout the molten PET flake and the combustion of
the PVC destroys the PET fiber so that it cannot be extruded for recycling.
I notice your competition seems to have no problem packaging non-dairy
creamer in a recyclable PET bottle, also tinted amber/brown as yours is. To
aid recycling, reduce solid waste volume and possibly its toxicity, please
change the plastic resin you package your creamer in. Thank you for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
>
--------------------------------
Blair Pollock
Phone: (919) 968-2788
Fax: 932-2900
Town of Chapel Hill
Solid Waste Management Department
306 North Columbia St.
Chapel Hill NC 27516-2113