CARBONated drinks

To evaluate the carbon footprint of soda, you have to start with carbonization itself. A typical 12-ounce can of soda releases up to six grams of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and that's just the bubbles! Add to that the acid rain and greenhouse gases produced in the manufacture of plastic bottles, the millions of unrecycled plastic bottles in our landfills and waterways, and the bauxite mining for aluminum cans (including toxic bisphenol-A linings), and you have a sizeable environmental problem.

Recycling the containers is certainly better than throwing them away, but recycling also uses a great deal of energy. And unlike glass and aluminum, plastic bottles cannot be recycled into new containers, but "downcycled" into lower grade plastics with limited applications and even smaller markets.

The nonprofit CAP Partnership has just unveiled their Carbon Action Plan (CAP), a standardized protocol used to measure the greenhouse gas emissions from beverage manufacturing. They estimate worldwide consumption of all ready-to-drink beverages to be approximately 1 trillion litres a year, and plan to assess the carbon footprint of this industry by considering:

• the amount of renewable energy used
  
• the percentage of recycled material in the packaging
  
• the number of water litres used to make 1 liter of product
  
• the extent of a company's carbon reduction in the previous two years
  
• the amount of carbon emissions verified as having been offset

They are establishing pilot programs with bottled water companies in each continent, but plan to extend the program to soft drinks next, with the hopes of eventually applying their program to many other food and drink producers.

Plastic in Concert

Do you remember the last time you went to see a band where the bar still served you a drink in a glass? How about the last concert that didn't sell water bottled in plastic? Or an outdoor festival without the ubiquitous plastic cup?

The change-over seems to have occurred sometime in the 1980’s, since I remember going to many shows in that era where the water was in fountains, the beer was in cans or glass bottles, and paper cups (albeit poly-coated, or with plastic straws and lids) were the norm. Bars that served drinks in plastic cups were rare. You could still bring a thermos to outdoor concerts, as long as it wasn't filled with alcohol. And vendors selling things like hot dogs in plastic clamshells, which they do now in many of our arenas, was unheard of.

The amount of non-recyclable plastic trash left after one Memorial Day party in my neighborhood tells me that entertainment and waste still go hand in hand, and we have a long way to go towards reducing petrochemical pollution. Plastic cups, cutlery, plates etc. are not currently recycled in this city, so the best solution for festivals and concerts is to bring your own containers or choose biodegradable alternatives. Two local examples, the annual Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the upcoming Popped Music Festival, provide water stations, so concert go-ers can fill their own bottles, instead of buying bottled water.

Getting bars, or any businesses, to comply with recycling laws has been next to impossible for the city's underfunded Streets and Walkways Education and Enforcement Program (S.W.E.E.P). But it might be getting easier, now that Mayor Nutter has appointed a new Director of Sustainability, Mark Allen Hughes. Hopefully, we will start to see more clubs sending their cans, glass, and plastic bottles to the recycling center instead of the dumpster. Unfortunately, this city still doesn't recycle plastic cups, so that problem will only be solved when clubs and bars start making more sustainable choices.

As for large arenas, Farm Aid  sets the best example nationally, consistently making strides towards reducing their environmental impact. Locally, Aramark, the food concession provider for arenas like Citizen’s Park, has unveiled their new environmental policy which includes recycling, using biodegradable cups, and recycling frying oil for biodiesel fuel. The Eagles have also switched to corn-based plastic at some of the vendors at the Linc and increased their recycling efforts as part of their larger "Go Green" plan. Let's hope this catches on at places like the Wachovia, and the Tweeter, and the Festival Pier, and The Mann... 

LINK:ALERT

And now, some quirky recycling news to speed up the drag of a hum-drum Friday.

ReGeneration Redux
An interesting article that expands on the ReGeneration Campaign I mentioned yesterday. Skip towards the middle. Thoughtful, honest opinion from a competition juror about the majority of submissions.

Dell Goes Bamboo
And the Dell theme continues! Check out this bamboo desktop computer the company is bringing to the office zoo.

Dean Kamen's Water Machine
From the man who brought you the Segway! This is a clip from The Colbert Report where Dean Kamen shows off his machine that can recycle and purify water from ANYTHING!!! (We're talking Doritos. Crystal clear.)

Brewing The Environment!
Another use for beer bottles besides goggles! This site recommends saving those bottles and making your own brew. If that's not your cup of tea, how about donating them to a solar-powered brewery(!)?

Billions Served...My Cup Runneth Over!
"Well slap my lowfat-decaf-soy-chai-latte drinkin’ self if I add to that!"
(We'll be quoting from this enlightening blog later in our Recycling FAQs, but the whole piece is worth reading.)