I believe the point of the article is not whether our plastic bottles are
"returnable for deposit" or not.  The point is that Coca Cola is not
"recycling" them and taking them out of the waste stream.

Jane Clark
===================================================
>The group is calling on Mr. M. Doug Ivester, Chairman
> and CEO of, The Coca-Cola Company, to recycle old bottles into new
bottles
> to reduce the waste going to landfills and incinerators and save
municipal
> governments what CRI estimates is tens of millions of dollars a year in
> disposal costs.

>Franklin says that the Coca-Cola Company alone could keep about 200
> million
> pounds of soda bottles out of the waste stream next year if they used
just
> 25 percent recycled content in their plastic bottles.  "This would also
> boost the recycling rate for plastic soda bottles which has dropped every
> year for the past three years and is now at just 36 percent," she said.
>
> She noted that the plastic soda bottle has made the glass soda bottle an
> 'antique' and has begun to erode aluminum can market share.  "Both glass
> bottles and aluminum cans are made with recycled materials," said
> Franklin,
> and ****we want Coke to make their plastic bottles out of old
bottles."***
> Franklin says Coke is using recycled content in their plastic soda
bottles
> in Australia and other countries and says there is no reason they can't
do
> it 'here in their own backyard'.

----------
> From: jrclark <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: COKE BOTTLES
> Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 8:13 AM
>
> >
> >                        Container Recycling Institute
> >                1911 Ft Myer Drive, Suite 900  ·  Arlington, VA  22209
> >                        703/276-9800 fax 703/276-9587
> >                email: [log in to unmask]  on the web:www.igc.apc.org/cri/
> >
> >
> >
> >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        CONTACT:  Pat Franklin 703/276-9800
> >
> >
> >        Plastic 20-ounce Coke Bottle Creates Huge Profits for Coca-Cola
> >                         and Huge Costs for America's Cities
> >
> >Group calls on Coca-Cola Chairman Ivester to Cut Plastic Bottle Waste
> >by Making new Bottles out of old Bottles
> >
> >ARLINGTON, DC -- (November 13, 1998)  Plastic 16 and 20-ounce soda
bottles
> >which were non-existent ten years ago, now make up 14 percent of the
soft
> >drink market.  But the same plastic bottles that  generate huge profits
> for
> >the Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers create huge costs for cities,
> >according to The Container Recycling Institute (CRI), a nonprofit,
> education
> >organization that studies container and packaging waste issues.
> >
> >What is fueling the growth of the 20-ounce no-return plastic bottle?
"The
> >answer is simple," said Pat Franklin, Executive Director of CRI.
> "Profits!
> >The single-serve plastic bottle brings a profit of $5.34 for the bottler
> and
> >$8.86 per case for the retailer.  A bottler has to sell 26 cases of cans
> for
> >every single case of 20-ounce plastic bottles to make the same dollar
> profit."

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