Students throw bottles and cans into recycling containers on campus, into cardboard boxes in their dorms, and into large green bins in the hallways. Sometimes it's a hassle to lug a large container of recycables in the search of bins that may or may not be full, but Boston College students make this extra effort to help out the environment.
But how sure can students be that their efforts will be worth the hassle? Do these recycables really get reused? Who is making sure the plastic bottle in one's hand does not end up in a landfill?
A battle rages behind the scenes, led by non-governmental organizations like Ecopledge and the Grass Roots Recycling Network. Their adversary is Pepsi Co.
Ecopledge has recently added Pepsi Co. to its list of company targets for environmentally unsound recycling practices. Pepsi Co., owns Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Quaker, and Gatorade, and is the second largest bottling company behind Coca-Cola.
Ecopledge is urging Pepsi to take voluntary steps to reduce the amount of waste created by its plastic beverage containers. The group also wants Pepsi to match Coca-Cola's current use of 10 percent recycled plastic in its bottles. Further improvement to 25 percent is expected to occur by 2005.
Producing plastic bottles from virgin material takes more energy and emits more greenhouse gases than using recycled materials. Greenhouse gases are difficult to remove from the environment, and are believed to be the cause of rising global temperatures. The burying, burning, and littering of plastic bottles not recycled also creates visible waste. In 1999 alone, 114 billion soda and beer containers were wasted in the United States.
Following the success of the campaign against Coca-Cola to improve its recycling practices, Ecopledge is increasing pressure on Pepsi to follow suit. Coca-Cola has promised to use 10 percent recycled material instead of one percent. Ecopledge officials have meet with Pepsi Co. CEO, Steven S. Reinemund, but have yet to call for a boycott of Pepsi goods.
"Pepsi is no better than Coca-Cola," said Bill Sheehan, executive director of GRRN. "If Coke keeps its promise and sells soda in recycled plastic, we believe the rest of the industry will have to follow suit."
For more information on the campaign, visit www.ecopledge.com and www.grrn.org.
— Jason Vanderburgh
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