Current Recycling Programs for Drink Boxes and Milk Cartons

1000 Potomoc St, NW Suite 401 Woshington D.C 20007 Phone 202) 333 5900 Fax (262)333-5987

ASEPTIC PACKAGING COUNCIL

Cnrrent Recycling Programs for Drink Boxes and Milk Cartons

The aseptic packaging industry has made a The following are summaries of programs in serious commitment to establish effective and schools and communities currently participat- economical recycling programs wherever possi- ing in drink box and milk carton recycling ble. It was only two years ago that the projects. industry initiated the first drink box and milk carton recycling programs. These first pilot programs proved so successful that the indus- California try accelerated its efforts and expanded recycling into state programs. A pilot collection/recycling program for drink boxes and milk cartons was initiated in two Because the majority of the more than three Contra Costa County schools in October billion drink boxes sold each year are used 1990. This program has since grown to by schoolchildren, the Aseptic Packaging include more than 60 schools in 10 districts. Council (APC) is working to stimulate collec- Collected materials are taken to Many Hands tion of drink boxes and milk cartons from in Pittsburg, (California) where they are schools. Today, drink box and milk carton shredded, rinsed and baled. recycling programs are operating in over 500 schools in 13 states. B.J. Fibres in Santa Ana, buys the baled material for $120 per ton and hydrapulps it. The industry is also working with public offi- B.J. Fibres then sells the fiber to paper mills cials, waste haulers and recycling centers to for as much as $400 per ton. The fiber is develop curbside collection programs for drink used to make tissues, paper towels and fine boxes and other polyethylene-coated juice and writing paper. milk cartons. In addition, drop-off centers are available in some communities to serve Beyond schools, seven drop-off locations in commercial and institutional customers, such the Bay Area and two in Southern California, as restaurants, hospitals, daycare centers and accept drink boxes and milk cartons for recy- office buildings. cling. A pilot curbside program in 1,000 households began in May 1992. More than 600,000 households are currently participating in curbside programs. By the Recycling efforts are also underway in Los end of 1992, the industry is projecting more Angeles, where a collectionhecycling program than one million households will participate in was begun in 400 elementary schools in the curbside collection programs. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Connecticut Central Services Corporation, a Waste Man- The first drink box curbside collection pro- agement Company, picks up the co-mingled gram in the nation was initiated in May 1991 recyclables at curbside once a week and sorts in three Connecticut towns -- Montville, New the material at their processing center. The London and Stonington -- as an expansion of drink boxes and milk cartons are baled and residents' current curbside collection programs shipped to Ponderosa Fibres of America in for recycled materials. Augusta, Georgia to be hydrapulped. One company that buys the recovered fiber is The program is sponsored by the Southeastern Georgia Pacific, a forest-products company Connecticut Regional Resource Recovery Au- with a paper mill in Palatka, Florida. They thority (SCRRRA), Resource Recovery Sys- use the fiber in the manufacture of tissue tems, in Essex, and the Aseptic Packaging products that are sold in the State. Council. As of mid-August, an estimated 125,000 households can include drink boxes and milk cartons in their existing recycling bins for pick-up on their regularly scheduled curbside collection days. The school-based drink box and milk carton recycling program in Illinois now includes 58 The cartons are transported with other recy- elementary, junior high and secondary schools, clable materials to the Material Recovery involving over 33,000 students who deposit Facility (MRF) in Groton, where they are used containers in recycling bins. The col- separated and baled. One of several paper lected material is shipped to V.I.M. in Aurora mills hydrapulps the materials and recovers for processing. the high-quality paper pulp for recycling into paper products such as tissues, napkins and Curbside collection programs in DeKalb and paper towels. Sycamore serve some 10,000 single-family and 1,500 multifamily households. In addi- In addition, a school-based drink box and tion, voluntary drop-off recycling centers milk carton recycling program now includes accepting drink boxes and milk cartons are schools in seven towns -- Easton, Monroe, located in Aurora, Hinsdale and Naperville. Monwille, Norwich, New London, Shelton and Stonington. Students deposit their used drink boxes and milk cartons in specially marked Marvland cafeteria recycling bins, and the cartons are transported to the Groton MRF for processing A school-based drink box and milk carton before shipment to the hydrapulper. recycling program began in 21 schools in the Montgomery County Public School system in the spring of 1991. The pilot recycling program encourages students to recycle drink boxes and milk cartons through placement of Florida is the most recent state to work with recycling bins in school cafeterias. the APC to recycle drink boxes and milk cartons. "he city of Winter Park launched a The program has the potential to recover program to add drink boxes and milk cartons some 14.8 million drink boxes and milk to their 6,800-household curbside program in cartons annually from Montgomery County June 1992. public schools. In addition to saving needed landfill space and teaching children about re-

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cycling, the program is estimated to result in Wellesley. The schools deposit the collected over $11,000 per year in avoided landfill material at a central kitchen. Container disposal costs. Services, Inc. bales the containers for transport to appropriate markets.

Nearly 25,000 households in Springfield and five additional towns -- Belchertown, A drink box collection program, serving some aicopee, Dalton, Granville, and Southampton 35,000 students, began in 48 schools in the -- started recycling their drink boxes and milk Minneapolis Public School District in January cartons m September 1991 through a combi- 1991. In December 1991, five schools added nation of curbside and drop-off recycling milk cartons to their collection programs. center collection. Today, some 350,000 The collected material is shipped to one of households in western Massachusetts have several locations for hydrapulping. access to drink box and milk carton recycling. New York Approximately 12,000 households in Spring- field and 4,000 in Chicopee began including In early 1992, the APC and the U.S. Confer- drink boxes and milk cartons in their recy- ence of Mayors initiated a pilot drink box cling bins for pickup on their regularly and milk carton recycling program in four scheduled curbside collection days. Local Albany schools. This is the first pilot pro- drop-off recycling centers in Belchertown, gram to begin under the "National Recycling Dalton, Granville and Southampton also accept in Schools Program." Current plans call for drink boxes and milk cartons from all resi- a late fall expansion of the school recycling dents who live within the parameters of each program to include an additional 14 public facility's service area. schools as well as a number of private schools in Albany. Containers recovered in both curbside and drop-off collections are transported to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Spring- field, operated by Resource Recovery Systems, Inc., in Essex. Several paper mills buy the School recycling became available to Colum- used cartons, which are recycled into such bus-area schools in September 1991. By the paper products as tissues, napkins and paper end of the '92 school year, 36 schools were towels. recycling their drink boxes and milk cartons. Recovered drink boxes and cartons are taken The pilot program is being sponsored by the to CycleMET where they are shredded, rinsed Massachusetts Department of Environmental and baled. Ponderosa Fibres then collects the Protection, with support from Resource Recov- processed carton material for shipping to one ery Systems and the Aseptic Packaging Coun- of the company's several hydrapulping facili- cil. After a one-year evaluation, the program ties. By the end of 1992, these polyethylene- may be expanded throughout the Springfield coated paperboard juice and milk containers area. will be added to the existing municipal curbside collection programs serving 2,000 Frank- In addition, drink boxes and milk cartons are lin County households. collected in five natural foods stores throughout Massachusetts and in 12 schools in 3 Owon system. Approximately 2,300 students as well as one natural foods store are involved in the One hundred and thirty-four schools in Ore- program. gon, including schools in Portland, the Oregon City School District, the Beaverton School Truk Away bales the recovered containers and District and the Eugene-Springfield school ships them to Resource Recovery Systems in area are using in-school collection bins to Essex, Connecticut, where they are consolidat- recover drink boxes and milk cartons for ed for hydrapulping. The city of Barrington recycling. set up a school-based recycling program in six schools, and will be implementing a drop- Used cartons are also collected at nine food off program in the near future. stores, 16 area drop-off centers and from curbside collection programs for 4500 multifamily units in the Portland area. The recovered materials are hauled to a Weyerhaeuser facility in Longview, Washington, where they Since January 1992, some 4,200 students in are hydrapulped for use in recycled corrugated seven Denton schools have been recycling cardboard. their drink boxes and milk cartons. The collected containers are processed by V.I.M. In early 1992, three hospitals and three in Chicago, and the rinsed and shredded dairies in Oregon started collecting milk car- packages go to one of Ponderosa Fibres’ tons, drink boxes and other compatible poly- facilities. Drink box and milk carton recy- coated material. Restaurants, cafes and day cling is expected to be expanded to Dallas care centers also participate in the recycling area schools in the fall of 1992. program. These milk cartons and drink boxes are also hauled to the Longview facility.

Pennsvivania Drink boxes are being collected at 46 natural food stores and are consolidated by Northeast A drink box collection program began in Cooperatives for shipment to a hydrapulper. October 1991. Two public schools in the In addition, drop-off centers are available for Ellwood City School District participate, along residents in Rutland, Bennington and with three schools within the Archdiocese of Shaftsbury. The materials are consolidated Pittsburgh. and baled by BFI for shipment to a hydrapulper. The Aliquipa School District, with three schools, and the Ambridge School District, with seven schools, joined in the collection and recycling program in December. Virginia’s first pilot curbside program began on December 1, 1991, in Chesterfield County. Rhode Island Drink boxes and milk cartons were collected along with other recyclables from over 1,100 A drink box collection program was initiated households in three subdivisions in the Rich- in North Kingstown in May 1990. The mond area. Given the success of the pilot, program has evolved into the nation’s first the recycling program is being expanded to school-based drink box recycling program, include 58,000 households in August 1992. involving 18 schools in the North Kingstown The program is sponsored jointly by West- 4 vaco Corp., Waste Management of Richmond, City of Mill Creek. The milk cartons and Chesterfield County, the Central Virginia drink boxes are collected by Pacific Dispos- Waste Authority and the Aseptic Packaging al/Lemay, Inc. in 50,000 households in Council. Thurston County.

The drink boxes and milk cartons are collect- There are also three hospitals, two dairies, ed, along with other household recyclables, and three retail coffee stores collecting milk sorted at Waste Management’s recycling cartons and drink boxes for recycling in the facility in Richmond, and sold to Ponderosa Seattle area. These commercial sites are Fibres in Augusta, Georgia. Ponderosa Fibres serviced by Waste Management. In Thurston purchases the material for $120 per ton for County, Exceptional Foresters Inc. collects recycling. milk cartons and drink boxes from eight county-sponsored drop stations, two retail coffee stores, and a four-store drop site Washinpton program sponsored by a local grocery store chain. In the Yakima area, EM1 Recyclers In June of 1991, the City of Mill Creek collects drink boxes from two Tree Top added milk cartons and drink boxes to its Apple Juice plants. existing 2,000 household curbside recycling program. The City of Issaquah followed in October of 1991 with an additional 2,000 Wisconsin households. As of July 1992, over 144,000 households in Washington State were par- Drink boxes and milk cartons were added to ticipating in curbside recycling programs in a Kenosha drop-off center in November, Mill Creek, Issaquah, Clark and Thurston 1991. Approximately 6,600 homes are cov- Counties, and the Cities of Bellevue and ered by the facility. Redmond (where frozen food containers are collected along with milk cartons and drink boxes).

Milk cartons and drink boxes are collected in 84 schools throughout the state, using recycling bins placed in the schools. Seattle University has also initiated a recycling program. Waste Management transports the recovered containers collected in Clark County and the Seattle area to Weyerhaeuser’s Long- view facility. In the Longview and Kelso School Districts, Waste Control transports drink boxes and milk cartons to the Weyerhaeuser facility, and in Yakima, EM1 Recyclers collect the material from local schools for transport to Weyerhaeuser.

Fibres International collects milk cartons and drink boxes from 42,000 households in Bellevue, Redmond and Issaquah. Waste Management collects the containers from 52,000 households in Clark County and the August 1992 Jc