The Business Case for Increased Recycling Beth Schmitt - Alcoa 27 October, 2011 1
Mar 28, 2015
The Business Case for Increased Recycling
Beth Schmitt - Alcoa 27 October, 2011
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Recycling and our Social License
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Mega trends that support future global growth of aluminum also point to a mandate to think of our material as a technical nutrient – a manufactured natural resource, or secondary raw material, rich in energy.
“TechnicalNutrients” must be incorporated into
manufacturing
What is the Problem?
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
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U.S.: 97 billion
ROW: 99 billion
Half the world’s cans are consumed in the U.S., yet 42% of them are still going into the trash
We have the largest market for these cans, but one of the lowest recycling rates among developed countries.
Total Market – 196 billion
41 billion trashed
~70% recycled
The result? About 1.3 billion lbs or 575 KMT of metal with a strong market is being buried.
Equivalent of 2 smelters are buried in landfills every year.
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What is the problem?
41 billion trashed
What about the Southeast?
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The recycling rate in the SERDC region is well below national average.
17.4 b cans, or >500 mm lbs buried each year.
Equivalent of 10,000 airplanes!
Meanwhile, the Southeast-based aluminum industry is short of cans!
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Recycling = Jobs!
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ExportExport
Source: Container Recycling Institute
FLOW CHART: DOMESTIC LABOR (USA) DIRECTLYRELATED TO COLLECTION OF BEVERAGE CONTAINERS FOR RECYCLING AND DISPOSAL
Recycling = Jobs!
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0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
Collection in CDR System
Manual Collection Automated Collection
FTEs
per
100
0 to
ns
Collection Jobs per 1000 tons of Beverage Containers
CDR and Curbside Systems (Automated and Manual)
CRI’s recent study supports a view that up to 7 FTE in collection jobs are created per 1000 mt of material
500mm lbs or 33kmt of un-recycled aluminum in the 11 SERDC states
33.2 thousand FTE’s in SERDC region
Aluminum Association estimates recycling jobs would increase to > 100 if 75% rate achieved.
Source: Container Recycling Institute
What can be done?
Policy support is imperative Disposal bans Mandated or incentivized recycling Logical, fair, and effective EPR Pay as you throw
Pay-as-you-throw – logical, incentive driven change
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Source: Skumatz Economic Research Associates, Inc. analysis
PAYT Effects
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Effective: Demonstrated in 7100+ cities DOUBLES recycling Diverts 1/5-1/6 from landfill! Most effective strategy
• 3x more effective than RecycleBank™ and BEST of dozens of other program options assessed)
Strong job creation (13:1) 0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Yardwaste Recycling Source Red'n
YW
Recy
Source Red’n (SR)
3 PAYT effects
Source for graphs and figures: Skumatz Economic Research Associates, © all rights reserved; jobs data computed using ILSR data.
101- 200 PAYT/VR communities
51- 100 PAYT/VR communities
21 - 50 PAYT/VR communities
Key
1 - 20 PAYT/VR communities
More than 200 PAYT/VR communities
Superior, CO, 2006 6survey © SERA, all rights reserved, may be used with permission of author
SERA’s 2006 survey found almost 7,1007,100 PAYT/VR communities and only 3 states without programs
SERA’s 2006 surveyfound 25% of populationwith PAYT available.
White indicates no programs in the state
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
SERA1989
1993 1997 2001 2006
# Programs
Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) Variable Rates Communities
Summary
The U.S. is the leading consumer of aluminum cans, but we lag far behind the rest of the world in recycling
The Southeast is the largest can consuming region, but reports the lowest recycling rates in the U.S.
Meanwhile the domestic aluminum recyclers are all located in the SERDC region
U.S. competitiveness, job creation, and energy savings are all outcomes of increased recycling
Policy support to provide incentives are critical
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