“What most people see in their garbage cans is just the tip of the material iceberg: the product itself contains on average only five percent of the raw materials involved in the process of making and delivering it.”
Source: Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough & Michael Braungart. Page 28.


Plastic
“When plastics are buried in a landfill, they occupy 25 percent of all landfill space.”
Source: US Energy Information Administration
www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/recycling/solidwaste/plastics.html

Roughly 10 percent of the fossil fuel consumed in the U.S. is used to manufacture plastics and fibres. This equates to roughly 740 million barrels of oil per year.
Source: Truth About Trade and Technology, Newswise
www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=4063
www.newswise.com/articles/view/511686/ (link to PDF of excel file)

What are all these acronyms? Click here for a list of plastics and their common uses.

Plastics prices have skyrocketed in tandem with oil, and while consumer products and food manufacturers have yet to feel the pain, they may soon turn to alternative packaging or pass higher costs to consumers. Scott Flynn, a partner in KPMG's Food, Retail and Distribution practice, says higher plastics prices make alternatives like biodegradable packaging more attractive. Packaging represents about 10 percent of a product's total cost, Flynn says.
Source: “Plastic Prices Push Packaged Goods Companies to Seek Alternatives,” August 31,2005, by Kathleen Kiley, Managing Editor, Consumer Markets Insider, Copyright 2005 KPMG LLP)
www.kpmginsiders.com/display_analysis.asp?cs_id=140493

Experimental results suggest that heating plastic-wrapped foods in the microwave is dangerous, and that it’s safer to use an alternative to plastic instead. A study reported in the June 1998 issue of Consumer Reports suggested that toxins may migrate into food from plastic wrap at room temperature too.
Source: Ecocycle Times
www.ecocycle.org/TimesFall2002/studentstudies.cfm

“The world's annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from around 5 million tonnes in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tonnes today.”
Source: Waste Online
www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm

“Packaging represents the largest single sector of plastics use. The sector accounts for 35 percent of plastics consumption and plastic is the material of choice in nearly half of all packaged goods.”
Source: Waste Online
www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm

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Landfill Issues
Traditional packaging design – linear, one-way, cradle-to-grave – is putting billions of dollars of material assets into landfills. “65.6 percent of American MSW (municipal solid waste) is landfilled.”
Source: The State of Garbage in America 2004, A joint study from BioCycle and the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University. State of Garbage 2004.pdf

“At least 6 states in the US have less than 5 years of remaining landfill capacity.”
Source: US EPA
http://wastec.isproductions.net/webmodules/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=1127

“The average landfill tip fees ranged from a low of $13.63/ton in California to a high of $72.60/ton in Massachusetts.”
Source: The State of Garbage in America 2004, A joint study from BioCycle and the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University, State of Garbage 2004.pdf

“In 2003, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 236 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day.”
Source: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2003, US Environmental Protection Agency.
www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm


“When a new municipal landfill is proposed, advocates of the project always emphasize that "no hazardous wastes will enter this landfill." The Texas study shows that even though municipal landfills may not legally receive "hazardous" wastes, the leachate they produce is as dangerous as the leachate from hazardous waste landfills. In industrial landfill leachate, 32 chemicals cause cancer; 10 cause birth defects, and 21 cause genetic damage; in municipal landfill leachate, 32 chemicals cause cancer, 13 cause birth defects, and 22 cause genetic damage.”
Source: Rachel’s Hazardous Waste News #90, www.ejnet.org/rachel/rhwn090a.htm referencing "An Estimation of the Risk Associated with the Organic Constituents of Hazardous and Municipal Waste Landfill Leachates," appears in the journal, Hazardous Wastes and Hazardous Materials, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pgs. 1-30.

"The EPA requires landfill owners to monitor their sites for 25 years post-closure to control leachate and methane buildup, which causes fires and explosions."
Source: EPA Guidelines: Closure and post-closure plans for major landfills.
www.epa.sa.gov.au/pdfs/guide_landfills.pdf
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Composting Success
56.3 percent of Yard Trimmings were recovered for composting as compared to 5.2 percent for plastic recycling.
Source: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2003, US Environmental Protection Agency. MSW US 2003 Report.pdf

The 16.1 million tons of yard trimmings recovered for composting represents more than a four-fold increase since 1990.
Source: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2003, US Environmental Protection Agency. MSW US 2003 Report.pdf

The quantity of organic waste going to landfills has not grown in the past 10 years (as opposed to product related waste), but has actually decreased by 1.6 million tons to 57.1 million tons. The US EPA credits the decline to the increase in backyard composting and yard trimming programs.
Source: EPA 2001
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Polylactide (PLA)
“The new plastic (PLA) has a few quirks however. The biodegradable materials won't break down in regular landfills; they have to be taken to special industrial sites and treated like compost. Nor will they decompose in home compost bins: Temperatures there don't reach the required 284 degrees F. Yet the containers will melt if filled with hot food, or placed in the dishwasher or microwave.”
Source: Liz Nakazawa, Special to The Christian Science Monitor, Portland, Oregon.
www.csmonitor.com/2003/0904/p12s02-sten.html

“So-called bio-based plastic has its own environmental downside, (however). Corn farmers rely heavily on fossil-fuel based fertilizers and pesticides to grow their crops, for example.”
Source: “One Word of Advice: Now It's Corn Plastics Manufactured From the Plant Grow More Appealing Amid Soaring Oil Prices,” Thaddeus Herrick, Staff Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2004
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