Midwest recycling leaders are concerned about a beer company’s
plans to use plastic beer bottles nationwide. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach has more:
Transcript
Midwest recycling leaders are concerned
About a beer
Company’s plans to use plastic beer bottles
Nationwide.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck
Quirmbach has the story:
Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing has been test marketing the
plastic beer bottles for about a year. Now, the company says it’s
ready to be the first U.S. brewer to use the plastic bottles
across the country. Solid waste officials say miller has made
the bottle a bit more recycling friendly, but some experts still
don’t want the bottles at recycling centers.
John Reindl is the
recycling manager for Dane County, Wisconsin. He says the amber-colored plastic
Miller would use for some bottles wouldn’t mix
well with the clear or green bottles that dominate the beverage
industry. So Reindl says the amber bottles would have to be
separated from the waste stream.
“That would cost between 5 and 6 cents a pound, which
means we would essentially get no revenue… so that would impose
a greater cost on our taxpayers.”
Reindl says a thin layer of nylon inside the plastic beer bottles
may also cause recycling problems. But Miller contends it’ll try
to recycle and reuse it’s own bottles, much of their supply may
come from states with bottle deposit laws.
For the Great Lakes
Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach.