Encouraging Recycling of Empty Aerosols

Americans generated about 251 million tons of trash and recycled and composted almost 87 million tons of this material, equivalent to a 34.5 percent recycling rate, according to most recent EPA estimates.  About 9% of the waste generated is metal.  Aerosol products only make up a small percentage of that, but 3.8 billion aerosol products are produced in the US each year, so there is still a very large opportunity to make a significant impact.

 

Representatives of CAPCO recently participated in the national Resource Recycling Conference in New Orleans, LA to engage directly with professionals in the recycling industry, including MRF (Material Recovery Facility) operators, waste haulers, equipment suppliers, and recycling coordinators for local municipalities.

 

CAPCO has been working to increase awareness that aerosol products are recyclable.  They are made of steel or aluminum, which are infinitely recyclable and valuable in the waste stream.  According to the Steel Recycling Institute’s (SRI) National Recycling Database, there are over 21,000 locations that accept steel cans, but only a third of those actively publicize the acceptance of aerosol cans. Communication is vital to keeping aerosols out of landfills.  We are working with partners like SRI to get a consistent message out to both consumers and recycling programs.  Aerosols ARE recyclable when empty and this should be communicated by the municipality, the waste hauler, and on the product itself.    In many cases it is, but there is still work to be done.   You can help by inquiring with  your municipality to see if they’re accepted, and encourage them to include that information clearly on bin/instructions, if so, or encourage them to include them, if not.  Please visit www.AerosolProducts.org/recycling for more information.

What to Do Once the Sun Sets

Summer is nearly over and so is your can of spray sunscreen. Now what?

Now it’s time to recycle. Spray sunscreens, like other household aerosol products, are recyclable so long as the can is empty. What’s more, recycling the cans is easy.

Thousands of communities now include aerosol product recycling in both household residential and curbside buy-back and drop-off programs. All you have to do is use up the last spray of the product and drop it in your recycling container.

Not sure if your local program accepts empty aerosol products? Give them a call and ask.

Help keep beaches clean and garbage cans empty. Recycle your spray sunscreen product and tell your neighbors to do so too.

To learn more click here.

Pledge to Recycle Empty Aerosols on America Recycles Day

Today is America Recycles Day, and on this special day we encourage citizens to take the pledge to recycle more products, including empty aerosol containers. The number of municipalities accepting empty aerosol containers in the U.S. is increasing – making recycling aerosols easier for consumers.  

You can pledge to recycle more by visiting the America Recycles Day site administered by Keep America Beautiful, one of the Consumer Aerosol Product Council’s (CAPCO) partners.  CAPCO is also a sponsor of Recycle-Bowl, a classroom recycling challenge that culminates on America Recycles Day. 

Nearly four billion aerosol cans are produced in the U.S. annually for products ranging from shaving cream to bicycle lubricant.  More than 5,300 municipalities now include aerosol cans in their recycling programs. Most steel aerosol cans feature the “Please Recycle When Empty” logo to indicate they can be safely recycled. Here’s how:

1. Empty the aerosol of its contents through normal use.
2. Check instructions from the local collector to determine if empty aerosols are accepted.
3. Place empty aerosol container in bin along with other recyclables.  

Large cities such as New York City and San Francisco have included empty aerosol cans in their curbside programs for years. CAPCO and the CSPA Aerosol Products Division have been working for 20 years to increase awareness among consumers and to get more municipalities to include aerosol cans in their recycling programs. “Now more than 65 percent of Americans have access to aerosol recycling through curbside pickup, drop off and waste-to-energy recovery programs,” said Doug Fratz, Aerosol Products Division Staff Executive at the Consumer Specialty Products Association, which represents the consumer aerosol industry. “We continue to work toward a day when everyone can easily recycle their aerosol containers.” 

For additional information about aerosol product recycling, go to www.AerosolProducts.org. 

Register Now for Recycle-Bowl Competition!

CAPCO is continuing its partnership with Keep America Beautiful as a sponsor for the Recycle-Bowl.  The first 1,000 schools to register will receive a tool kit that includes information about how to recycle aerosol cans, an educational Material Recovery Facility poster, competition posters, a “recycling coach’s” clipboard and other materials.  Schools are encouraged to register as soon as possible.

How Does Recycle-Bowl Work?

Recycle-Bowl was created to provide students with a fun, interactive way to learn about waste reduction and environmental responsibility through in-school recycling. All schools can participate in the incentive-based recycling competition, which kicks off in October.  But registration is now open on the Recycle-Bowl website at http://recycle-bowl.org. The competition runs from October 21 through November 15, culminating on America Recycles Day. Participating schools will track and report how much recyclable material (bottles, cans, cartons and paper) they collect for a chance to win prizes. At the close of the four-week competition, the school in each state that collects the most recyclable material per capita will win $1,000. A national champion will then be chosen from among the statewide winners to receive an additional grand prize.

Help us reach our goal of having 1,700 schools participate in 2013!

The Recycle-Bowl Competition began in 2011 and by its second year, more than 1,500 schools, representing more than 900,000 students, participated in the competition. Want to know how many schools in your state are currently competing? You can find a state leaderboard on the website and an interactive map showing all the competing schools.

CAPCO reminds teachers and consumers that aerosol products are recyclable when empty.  Many programs already include empty aerosol containers into their curbside recycling programs, but CAPCO is working to get more local municipalities to include them and also to increase awareness among consumers that they can be recycled.  Please visit www.AerosolProducts.org/recycling for more information.

Recycling of Empty Aerosol Products Rises: Work to Increase Awareness Continues

A recent study done for the British Aerosol Manufacturers’ Association (BAMA) showed that in the UK nearly 70% of the population buy/use aerosols and 73% of those are recycling.  In the UK 87% of municipalities accept empty aerosol containers for recycling, this is up dramatically from only 7% accepting them less than two decades ago!

Similarly, the number of municipalities that accept empty aerosol containers in the U.S. is increasing as well.  In a recent webinar sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO) shared that more than four billion aerosol cans are produced in the U.S. annually and more than 5,200 municipalities include steel aerosol cans in their recycling programs, serving more than 100 million people according to the Steel Recycling Institute (more than 75% of aerosols are steel).

Fortunately, large cities such as New York City and San Francisco have included empty aerosol cans in their curbside programs for years. But there is still work to be done to increase awareness among consumers. It is important for consumers and municipalities to understand that empty aerosol cans are recyclable to increase participation in recycling efforts. The good news is that both steel and aluminum are infinitely recyclable and valuable, so the case for recycling them is strong.

 

For example, steel food cans are currently accepted in 18,239 recycling programs already.  If all those programs also included empty steel aerosol cans, 193 million people would be served—that’s about 2/3 of the U.S. population!

   

CAPCO is an educational non-profit focused on providing the facts about today’s aerosol products, including their recyclability.  To learn more, please visit www.aerosolproducts.org/recycling.

Recycling…Just One More Way We All Can Help Keep America Beautiful!

One of the easiest ways to contribute to a more beautiful America is by recycling. Many empty and discarded items can be recycled and aerosol product cans are included among them. Recently, CAPCO partnered with one of the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organizations – Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB).

Through our partnership, CAPCO is supporting KAB’s new initiative “Recycle-Bowl” – a recycling competition for K-12 classrooms with the ultimate goal of increasing recycling rates and furthering education about recycling within U.S. schools. As a co-sponsor of the Recycle-Bowl Toolkit, CAPCO provided an aerosol can recycling fact sheet and classroom activity that is included in the kit. Other materials within the toolkit include Recycle-Bowl competition posters, environmentally friendly lesson plans for teachers, a complimentary book for students to read, and more.

Participation in Recycle-Bowl is easy and registration is open now. So visit the KAB website today and register your classroom for Recycle-Bowl. Only the first 1000 schools to register will receive a Recycle-Bowl toolkit. Registration closes on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, and the competition gets underway from October 15 through November 9, 2012. Winning schools will receive a monetary award ranging between $500 and $2,500.

Just remember…there are many ways we can keep America beautiful through recycling, but there is only one KAB Recycle-Bowl. Will you join CAPCO in support and spread the word about participating in this great initiative?

CAPCO Celebrates 20 Years of Exhibiting at NSTA!

In late March, the 2012 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference took place in Indianapolis, where an estimated 8,500 science teachers gathered to explore fresh ideas, learn about advances in their profession and get introduced to new education strategies. For the 20th straight year, CAPCO participated in the conference, engaging with more than 1,000 science teachers. Our volunteers informed attendees that aerosol technology is an inexpensive and practical way to teach several basic scientific principles. They also reminded them that aerosol products haven’t had CFCs for more than 30 years. Finally, they encouraged the teachers about the benefits of recycling empty aerosol cans.

    

Charlie Ortmann (Diversified CPC) and Dick Reed (KIK Corp.) at the booth

CAPCO also unveiled its "Aerosol Products Recycling Challenge" for students.   The
contest aims to get students engaged in efforts to increase the recycling of empty aerosol products in their local communities by tasking them with the following:

Research - Learn the facts about aerosol products, and their
ability to be recycled.

Reach Out - Find out the status of aerosol can recycling in your
community and make a plan to improve it.

Results - How did you make a difference? Did local officials agree
to (or consider) adding empty aerosols to the curbside recycling
program? If they are already accepted; did you find a way to let more
people know?

Record It - Prepare a 30-90 second video that "makes the case" for
recycling aerosol products - The video should demonstrate your
knowledge of aerosol products (their attributes, safety guidelines)
with a focus on why they should be recycled.

You can learn more about the contest Entry Requirements by visiting the “Aerosol Products Recycling Challenge” website.

In addition, CAPCO highlighted all of the resources that it has available for teachers including; a newly enhanced website, an updated Teacher’s Kit with 10 lessons and 5 experiments, an interactive learning website www.ecoaerosols.com, and its educational videos.  

It also should be noted that the allure of some 3500+ products, donated by industry supporters, played a key role in the extra foot traffic CAPCO enjoyed at its booth. The product giveaways included: WD-40 (3oz travel size and No-Mess Pen); Sprayway (4oz Glass Cleaner); KIK Corporation’s assorted travel sized personal care products; Faultless Starch’s Magic Wrinkle Remover and assorted colors of spray paint and cleaning products from Chase. In addition to the product donations, several industry professionals also donated their time by volunteering at the CAPCO booth. Special thanks to Dick Reed (KIK Corporation), Charlie Ortmann and Bill
Frauenheim (Diversified CPC).

Bill Frauenheim (Diversified CPC)

Overall, it was a successful conference, and many teachers were pleased to learn that empty aerosols could be recycled. Several were familiar with CAPCO and already use the teacher's kit as a resource for classroom experiments.  However, a few still believed that some or all of aerosol products contained CFCs, demonstrating that it is important for CAPCO to continue on its mission to educate teachers, consumers and the media on the facts and benefits of aerosol products.