Fancy Recycling Symbol- not a recycling symbol, actually.

Since I'm now in the habit of scrutinizing every plastic container I own, trying to determine it's recyclability, I've come across this symbol and wondered what it meant. It looks fancy, must be European.

Well I was right about it being European, but this actually isn't a recycling symbol. This is called the "Green Dot" and it basically means that it:

complies with the German Packaging Ordinance for the return of consumer packaging. The symbol can, in fact, be in any colour other than red. It is administered by Duales System Deutschland GmbH, a non-profit organisation which was established to enable manufacturers and distributors to fulfil the requirements of the legislation. This shows that a fee has been paid for the recovery of the packaging in some European countries.

What does the symbol mean here in the United States? Bupkis. Nada. Zilch. Furthermore with the specific bottle of MAC tinted moisturizer I'm looking at now, there are no other symbols indicating what kind of plastic the bottle is made from- so I can't put it out for curbside recycling if it is #1 or #2 plastic. Not very helpful.

However, many cosmetic companies have recycling programs. For instance, when I'm done with it I can take my MAC tinted moisturizer back to MAC (though they don't say what they will do with it), or I can take it to Origins- they have a brand new recycling program and will take back cosmetic packaging, no matter what brand, for recycling or "energy recovery"-- I'd love to see more details on what that means!

Now, if only I could find a really good tinted oil free spf moisturizer that doesn't come in plastic...

Bittersweet

Just as NY State environmentalists are celebrating getting a 5 cent deposit on water bottles approved, this happens not too far from where I live in Queens:

A Bottle Scavenger by Choice Is Killed by a Hit-Run Driver
By MATHEW R. WARREN and AL BAKER
Published: April 8, 2009
In the mornings, Virginia Montalvo threw her 71-year-old body behind a shopping cart and thrust it out onto the streets of Woodhaven, Queens, where she filled it with the neighborhood’s emptied bottles and cans. At night, she did it again.

The New Yorkers who scavenge recyclables for the nickel deposit normally do not have much farther to fall, but those who knew Ms. Montalvo said she did not need the money. She was married, lived in a home owned by a daughter and had seven children with the means to support her.

Her reason was simple, said Esteban Cobos, 44, her son-in-law: “She went and did her collections to keep herself busy, so as not to be bored sitting at home.”

At 10:24 p.m. Monday, Ms. Montalvo was pushing a full cart across Jamaica Avenue just east of 98th Street when a van traveling east hit her, the police said. The van kept going; paramedics took Ms. Montalvo to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.

Detectives interviewed several people who saw the accident, which left bags of bottles and cans strewn on Jamaica Avenue under the elevated tracks of the J and Z trains. Investigators believe the van might have been speeding, but they had not found any videotape from a nearby store showing the impact. The vehicle, possibly a dark blue or gray cargo van, had not been located as of Tuesday afternoon.

The police asked any other witnesses to call 1-800-577-TIPS.

In addition to her seven children Mr. Cobos said, Ms. Montalvo had at least 10 grandchildren. She came to the United States from Peru about six years ago, he said, and was thinking of traveling back there in June.

One of Ms. Montalvo’s shopping carts was chained outside her home on 96th Street, about two blocks from where she died. Mr. Cobos said that Ms. Montalvo’s husband sometimes went with her on her collections.

She would redeem her cans and bottles at neighborhood Key Food or C-Town supermarkets. It was not clear where she was headed when she was hit; she was by the C-Town but crossing to the other side of the Avenue.

A neighbor, Virginia Chavez, said Ms. Montalvo often visited the convenience store where Ms. Chavez’s husband worked and talked about Peru. “She was from my country,” Ms. Chavez said. “What a pity.”

Miguelina Ramos, owner of Miguelina’s Beauty Salon, a few doors down from Ms. Montalvo’s house, said, “I saw her every day, in the morning and at night,” she said. “She would pass with her cart. For her, it was a job.”

This makes me so very sad. She was keeping herself busy and cleaning up her community in the process. My heart goes out to Mrs. Montalvo's family.

YESSSS!!!

As of June 1, NY State is getting a 5 cent fee on bottled water! This will REALLY cut down on litter. Because there is no incentive to recycle, water bottles (and caps, don't forget the caps) are littered everywhere in NYC, and maybe it is just me but I think especially in Queens. People complain about plastic bags blowing in the wind and clogging the gutter-- I see bottles and caps all over the place. Well, now there is a darned good reason not to toss them, and if you do, someone will probably come along and pick them up for the change.

Better yet, the unredeemed nickels go back to NY State for environmental clean up. Win, win.

Thank you, Albany!

AP Article is here

Now if we can just do something about those #5 PP caps...

Oh, crap.

Yet another excellent reason to stop using "disposable" plastic (and paper, and metal):

"Just months after riding an incredible high, the recycling market has tanked almost in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills' demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables.
Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. Aluminum cans dropped nearly half to about 40 cents a pound, and scrap metal tumbled from $525 a gross ton to about $100."

This doesn't look good...

Why isn't this big news?

When other cities around the country and the world do something about plastic bags, The New York Times writes about it. When the New York City Council passed a bag recycling law last January they wrote about it. And when Mayor Bloomberg proposed a 6-cent bag tax, they certainly wrote about it. But when the State of New York passes a weak bag recycling bill that would NULLIFY New York City's law, there is nary a peep from the Times. What gives?

WNYC, Gotham Gazette and NY1 have aired the story, but without follow up. That has been the only coverage-- at least that I can find with Google searches. The bill is currently with Governor Paterson. He can veto or exempt NYC from it, or do nothing and let it become law-- which it will IN THREE DAYS.

Am I missing something? This will affect everyone in the city-- we all buy groceries! For the life of me I can't figure out why more people aren't screaming bloody murder. If anyone knows, please give a girl a clue.

Here is how the State law would affect NYC:

*The State bill would preempt the City from taking stronger action on bag recycling, now or at any future point.

*While the Council’s law applies to stores of 5,000 square feet or more and to chains under a common name, the State bill only applies to stores 10,000 square feet or more, and to chains under common ownership or management. The 5,000 square feet requirement is better suited to the City’s needs, as stores tend to be much smaller than in other parts of the State.

*The State bill only applies to plastic carryout bags. The Council’s law also required the recycling of film plastic, such as package wrap, dry cleaning bags and newspaper bags.

*The Council’s law has clear responsibilities for manufacturers of plastic bags. They must, upon the request of a store owner to whom they sell plastic bags, make arrangements for the collection, transport and recycling of plastic pursuant to the provisions of the law. Under the State law, there appears to be no manufacturer obligation to collect, transport or recycle bags.

So if you think the State law sucks and want to do something about it, go here (this page also has links to more information about the issue):

http://council.nyc.gov/html/action_center/no_to_plastic_bag_bill.shtml

Big money in caps?

I don't know that much about plastic, apart from knowing I want less of it in my life. There are many different types, some more recyclable than others, some scarier than others, but all of them a complicated mix of petroleum and chemicals.

This guy writing for the Duluth News Tribune knows a thing or two about plastic though:

After being yelled at for putting a cheapo high density polyethylene bottle with a polypropylene cap still on it into a recycle bin, I had to check the plastics market. The Ides.com Street Plastic Prices Report confirmed my hunch: Polypro was selling between $1.01 and $2.25 a pound. HDPE was going for only 49 to 89 cents.

So why are recyclers asking you to throw away the more valuable material and reclaiming the cheap stuff?

Several reasons, says Duluth’s Greg Hartel. “It becomes difficult to bale a plastic bottle when the top is on,” he said, relating horror stories of caps turning into projectiles when the bottles are crushed.

In that case, duck. The real issue, though, is economics.

“It’s not necessarily that something can’t be processed, but whether a particular process makes it economically feasible to do it,” Hartel said, adding the no-cap policy of his family’s business may change with an impending expansion. “I don’t think we’ve made up our minds which direction we want to go in regards to caps.”

At two bucks a pound, I’ll help — except I might have competition. Mike Lunow from Waste Management in the Twin Cities said the company’s Duluth operation does accept caps.

Huh! It has always bugged me that plastic bottles are recyclable, but the caps are not. And here's this guy saying the caps are worth twice as much. Hopefully the recycling companies will figure out how to get at that untapped revenue potential soon.

New development in the bag recycling issue

The State of New York passed a bag recycling law- but it is weaker than the one passed last month by New York City. The new state law, awaiting signature from Gov. Paterson, would require stores larger than 10,000 sq. feet and certain chain stores to collect used bags for recycling. New York City's law passed last January is stiffer- it includes more chain stores and stores larger than 5,000 sq. feet.

Local politicians are urging Governor Paterson to veto the new law or exempt NYC. Good on them. This law does not effect Mayor Bloomberg's proposal for a 6-cent bag fee.

The law hit Paterson's desk on Monday. I heard about it yesterday evening on WNYC. So far it hasn't been covered in the New York Times. NY1 has the story.

If you'd like to tell Governor Paterson what you think about this issue, his contact information is here. Or add your name to a letter from the New York City Council.

Update - The governor has until 12/12 to act. A copy of a letter from Cristine Quinn about this is at sustaiNYC.