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Re: [greenyes] Plastics News - Opinion Piece on state bottlebills, etc
I agree with Lance about the unfortunate nature of the accompanying cartoon,
but I do not agree completely with Helen about putting the responsibility
solely on the brand owners, retailers and consumers.

To my mind, the manufacturers are not "simply" compliant suppliers to the
brand owners.  The idea that container (or any other) companies just deliver
"what the consumer wants" ignores the influence of aggressive advertising
and marketing, and you can be sure that in this competitive industry,
marketing is at a fever pitch. Consumer demand--whether at the retail or
wholesale level, does not merely "exist;" it is continuously created and
manipulated.  

In theory, the most effective bills would target all the parties along the
supply chain.


on 4/28/03 5:36 PM, Helen Spiegelman at hspie@no.address wrote:

> The cartoon contains an insight that supporters of bottle bills should pay
> attention to. Legislators have to be careful in crafting "producer
> responsibility" bills like bottle bills to pin the responsibility where it
> belongs and will do the most good.
> 
> The plastic container industry is not responsible for the design or
> production of beverage containers -- they are simply suppliers to the
> beverage industry. That is why effective bottle bills place responsibility
> on the brand-owners rather than the container producers. When the bottle
> manufacturer (or for that matter the retailer) is responsible for Coke and
> Pepsi's containers, this leaves Coke and Pepsi laughing all the way to the
> bank.
> 
> On the other hand, once brand-owners are responsible for making sure their
> bottles are returned and reused or recycled, then *they* will take steps to
> build strong recycling markets by specifying *to their suppliers* that the
> bottles should contain recycled content.
> 
> (Supply) chain reaction.
> 
> Helen.
> 
> 
> At 02:37 PM 04/28/2003 -0400, lkingeco2@no.address wrote:
>> Too bad about the cartoon with the opinion piece, which shifts the impact of
>> what Steve Toloken wrote to a less balance perspective in my opinion.
> 
> 
> http://www.plasticsnews.com/subscriber/opinion2.phtml?cat=5&id=1051284359
> 
> 
> 

--Jenny

Jennifer Gitlitz
Research Director, Container Recycling Institute

Home Office:
2 Pomeroy Ave.
Dalton, MA 01226
Tel. (413) 684-4746
eFax: (928) 833-0460
Email: jgitlitz@no.address

Container Recycling Institute headquarters:
1911 N. Ft. Myer Dr. #702
Arlington, VA 22209-1603
Tel. (703) 276-9800
Fax: (703) 276-9587
www.container-recycling.org
www.bottlebill.org







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