CORPORATE CLOUT BOOSTS
DEMAND FOR RECYCLED PRODUCTS
Who says big business doesn't care? A
recent merger among 35 major U.S. corpora
tions is leading to increased demand for
recycled products on a massive scale. The
companies are all charter members of the
Buy Recycled Campaign, launched last
year by the National Recycling Coalition
(NRC) with start up funds fro? *he Environ
mental Protection Aaency (EPA). Companies
which join the Buy Recycled Campaign
promise to purchase goods and supplies
made from recycled materials.
It started small, with just a few companies
which were already using recycled products,
urging other companies to join in their com
mitment. Soon, o5 major corporations and
trade associations had tormea the Buy Re
cycled Business Alliance.
In addition to signing a charter, whereby the
companies pledge to procure recycled goods
as much as possible, the firms also agreed to
survey their current level of recvcled-product
purchasing. This would provide them with a
way to measure future progress. Their surveys
revealed that the founding corporations had
spent a total of almost $3 billion on recycled
goods ranging from company letterhead to
carpeting.
"American businesses are committed to buying
recycled/' said Alliance member Larry Long
of Anheuser-Busch Inc. "We are not starting
from ground zero nere. We have discovered
a substantial base from which to build."
The goal of the Buy Recycled Campaign over
the next two years is to recruit 5,000 compa
nies to sign the charter. NRC has launched a
nationwide educational campaign to enlist
new companies. The coalition plans to distrib
ute videos, handbooks, provide on-line access
to recvcled-product information and hold
worksnops and seminars on buying recycled
products. The coalition has already sent
information to approximately 600 companies
American Airlines \ *
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Anheuser - Busch, Inc.
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Bank of America
Bell Atlantic Co.
Browning Ferris Industries
The Coct>Cola Co.
Cracker Barrel Old
Country Store, Inc.
E. I. DuPontCo.
Food Management Institute
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Fort Howard Corp.
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James River Corp.
Johnson Controls
Johnson & Johnson
K Mart
Laidlaw, Inc.
Lever Brothers. Inc.
McDonald's Corp.
Menasha Corp.
Moore Business Forms, Inc.
Quaker Oats
Qui Corp. ' HHgWB
Rock-Tenn Co. 1 1 t ^
Rubbermaid Commercial
Products, Inc. *
Safeway, Inc.
Scrap Tire Management Council
Sears Roebuck and Co.
Steel Can Recycling Institute
Wal-Mart, Inc.
Waste Management, Inc.
Wellma'n, Inc.
Wisconsin Tissue Mills
expressing an interest in joining the Buy
Recvcled tampaign. Organizers are optimis
tic tnat enthusiasm will continue to grow.
BUYING RECYCLED -
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
Here are some examples of how charter
members of the BUY RECYCLED CAM
PAIGN practice what they preach!
McDonald's Corporation is not only
utilizing recycled paper fibers in its tray liners
and paper Dags, out as new stores are built,
it is tneir goal to use 50% recycled material in
the construction of these stores. Materials
include floor tile, aluminum window frames,
insulation wall board and chairs which
contain recycled content.
When Coca-Cola needed some 1 ,500
plastic binders for employee training manu
als, it specified that they wanted the binders
to be made out of (what else?) their own
recycled soda bottles!
Johnson and Johnson has asked its
computer manufacturer to increase the per
centage of recycled content components in
their computer hardware.
Moore Business Forms' "buy recycled
team" looks for recycled materials when
selecting office furniture, carpeting, floor tile
mats, bulletin boards, even pens and pencil:
The Steel Recycling Institute fourid a
creative use for discarded paper when they
printed their promotional materials on the
back of old government agency maps.
Vendors for the Fort Howard Corpora
tion provide them with reycled content core:
for the recycled tissue that company pro
duces.
Bank of America teamed up with Wiscor
sin Tissue to buy surplus 1 00% post-consume
napkins that originally were produced for
military use during Desert Storm. Now a
Bank of America rood service contractor uses
those napkins in 80% of their cafeterias.
As these businesses utilize recycled products
more and more, they monitor their progress '
so as to gage their overall performance and
to set goals tor the future.
Thanks to EPA REUSABLE NEWS and BUY
RECYCLED NEWSLINE for information
obtained for this article.
LOCAL COMPANY EFFORTS
While not members of the Buy Recycled
Business Alliance yet, here is now some
local companies are doing their part to
support the Buy Recycled effort.
Planters LifeSavers is using an average
of 30% recycled materials in tne packaging
of all Planters products. Glass jars in wnicn
peanuts are packaged contain a minumum
of 30% recycled glass. Display travs for
gum, and nuts contain 1 00% recycled
paper and corrugated boxes used to ship
their products contain 40% recycled paoer.
Planters LifeSavers is also utilizing a 1 00%
recycled content paperboard in their compos
ite cans in which snacks are packaged.
Our local Pepsi Cola bottler reports that
their alass containers contain 30% to 1 00%
recycled glass, the aluminum cans contain up
to 68% content and plastic soda bottles
contain up to 35% recycled plastic.
Chesapeake Display and Packaging,
a major producer or pointof-purchase dis
plays ana packaging, uses a line of
paperboard materials called REsources which
is certified in writing to contain at least 35%
4
recycled ^ost^onsumer fiber.
Sara Lee Knit Products purchases
corrugated cases and displays containing
20 to 30% recycled content and Sara U
Direct utilizes recycled paper for internal
publications, business cards, brochures and
forms whenever possible.
If you'd like more information
about how your company can buy
recycled, call RECYCLE TODAY at
727-8153.