Recycle Your Aerosol Cans for Earth Day!

Each year nearly 4 billion aerosol products are produced in North America for a variety of common uses, from loosening a chain on a bike to shaving. Although aerosols have been free of CFCs since 1978, recent data shows that nearly 70% of consumers still believe that aerosol products harm the ozone layer.

Similarly, many consumers are unaware that consumer aerosol cans are recyclable. For example, empty steel cans of all kinds are recycled at a rate of more than 66%; yet, many empty steel aerosol containers are not finding their way to the recycling bins.

According to the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI), more than 94 million Americans have convenient curbside or drop-off access to recycling their empty steel aerosol containers. This means that more than 15 thousand programs accept steel cans, but only one third of those actively publicize their approval of empty aerosol cans. As a result, too many empty steel aerosol cans are taking up landfill space while valuable steel is not being recycled and reused as efficiently as it could be.

CAPCO and SRI are partnering to educate consumers and recycling program coordinators alike about the recyclability of empty steel aerosol containers. Many common products now feature the prominent Steel: “Please Recycle When Empty” logo to remind consumers of the recyclability of the package. Recycling empty steel aerosol containers is as simple as 1, 2, 3:

1. Consumers should empty the aerosol of its contents through normal use.
2. Check instructions for recycling from your local collector to see if empty aerosol cans are accepted for recycling in your municipality.
3. Place empty aerosol containers in bins along with steel food cans and other recyclable content.

The cans will be processed along with other household recycling materials. For single stream (mixed recyclables), the empty steel aerosol packages will be magnetically separated from other recyclables, and once separated, the empty steel packaging (food, aerosol, etc...) will be baled before being sent to steel mills to become a variety of new steel products.

For additional information related to the recycling of empty steel aerosol packaging or to encourage your municipality to begin accepting them, visit the SRI website at recycle-steel.org. To learn more facts and benefits of the aerosol product form, visit AerosolProducts.org.

CAPCO had Successful NSTA Conference!

The 2011 National Science Teacher’s Association (NSTA) Conference just took place in San Francisco where CAPCO volunteers successfully communicated three key messages to an estimated 1,400 people.

In preparation for the conference, CAPCO produced a full-color handout that stressed 3 messages:

1. Technology: Aerosol technology is a great way to teach several basic scientific principles.
2. Environment: Aerosol products haven’t had CFCs for over 30 years.
3. Recycling: Empty Aerosol cans are recyclable.

It also highlighted all of the resources that we have available for teachers including; a newly updated website, an updated Teacher’s Kit with 10 lessons and 5 experiments, an interactive learning website www.ecoaerosols.org and our educational videos. In addition, CAPCO collaborated with the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI) to develop a handout with information and facts on recycling empty consumer aerosol cans.

CAPCO’s presence at the conference was met with either:

• Confusion: “Why are you here?” or “So…these are bad aerosols, right?”
• Intrigue: “Wow, I recycle and I didn’t know that aerosol cans could be recycled.”
• Gratitude: “Thanks for being here, I try to communicate that aerosols no longer harm the ozone in my classroom year after year and students still come in believing that they do!”

Of course, we would not have received the booth traffic that we did without the 3000+ products that were donated from industry supporters. The product giveaways included WD-40 (3oz travel size and No-Mess Pen), Sprayway (4oz Glass Cleaner), Energizer (Skintimate shave gel), BP Blaster (Garage Door Lubricant and multi-purpose lubricant), United Industries (Cutter Insect Repellant) and assorted aerosol products from Chase. In addition to the product donations, several people also donated their time by volunteering at the CAPCO booth: John Blum (Ball Corporation), Casper Chiang (Clorox Company), and Don and Sharon Rowen from Industrial Hydrocarbons.

After engaging with several teachers and educators we were able to gather some valuable feedback and come up with some great ideas for how we may improve the resources that CAPCO currently offers to teachers and students. In addition, many teachers are in the process of “greening” their classrooms and schools, so there are also opportunities to help teachers to develop a lesson plan that encouraged their students to reach out to their local municipalities and trash haulers to urge them to accept aerosol cans for recycling in their communities. This would be a helpful tool and a great Earth Day activity.

Overall, it was a successful conference, but there is still much work to be done! Many of the teachers we spoke to 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.

Upcoming NSTA Science Fair

CAPCO is preparing to attend the annual National Science Teacher’s Association conference in San Francisco from March 10-13th. Last year’s conference had over 15,000 registrants and representatives for the CAPCO booth spoke with over 1000 attendees.

The theme of this year’s conference is: “Celebrating the Joy of Science: Imagine and Create.” CAPCO will be communicating three key messages to teachers at the conference:

-Aerosol Product Technology

-Aerosols and the Environment

-Aerosol Cans are Recyclable

CAPCO has refreshed the look and feel of its teacher’s kit and will be promoting it at this year’s conference. The kit can now be downloaded in sections and its contents are clearly listed on our website.

In addition, CAPCO is partnering with its long-time supporter the Steel Recycling Institute to communicate aerosol product benefits and to remind teachers and consumers that empty consumer aerosol cans are recyclable! We have created a co-sponsored flyer about recycling facts and tips, which we’ll distribute at the booth.

We have a great group of industry experts who have volunteered to work at the booth and share their knowledge about aerosol technology and this unique packaging form. We are looking forward to a successful conference and one more opportunity to communicate the benefits and facts about aerosol products.

Some Consumers are Really Getting It!

Although there is still widespread confusion about aerosol spray products’ impact on the environment, some consumers have the facts straight and are sharing their knowledge. In a recent article on www.everydayhealth.com there is a section that points out that aerosol hairsprays haven’t contained CFCs since 1978 and they also have very low VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Anne Fritz in Every Day Health writes:

Many people still believe that the use of aerosol hair spray puts holes in the ozone layer. In reality, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which do destroy the ozone layer, were banned from hair sprays and other aerosols by the United States in 1978. In addition, since 1999, most major hair spray brands have been reformulated so that they contain a smaller percentage of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which increase smog, to meet tighter standards introduced by the California Air and Resource Board. Although these tougher standards are currently enforced only in California, most national brands offer the same product across the country — so even if you live in Nebraska, your hair spray is probably less harmful today than it was ten years ago.

In a blog posting on a site called www.tinychoices.com a mother talks about how the benefits of sunscreen outweigh the ‘costs.’ She finds that sunscreen in an aerosol spray container is much more convenient and effective to prevent sunburns on her kids than the more traditional lotion, and she researches to learn that consumer aerosol products don’t have CFCs (and haven’t for several decades) and are also recyclable! Karina of Tiny Choices writes:

These days, though, if something is related closely to food or body care the propellants are more inert – usually propane or butane (though flammable) or CO2 or nitrous oxide. Interestingly, the aerosol products industry group reports that in recent studies 7 out of 10 American’s think that CFCs are still present in aerosol cans! Even though this has been outlawed for several decades in the US.

So if the problem isn’t the ozone then it stands to reason that the aerosol can may be the more appropriate choice over a plastic bottle, right? But how to take care of end-of-life issues?

Earth911 points out that I should be able to recycle at the local level, as long as the can is actually empty… My research turned up another resource, though, which is interesting and hugely useful for people with limited municipal recycling options: 1800recycling.com has a very useful search feature on their website that looks up where you can recycle hard to recycle materials.

It looks like we’re off to a good start in 2011 with 2 great examples of consumers and the media getting the facts about aerosol products and sharing those facts with their readers.

Aerosols vs. Aerosol Products

Often consumers and media alike confuse “aerosol products” with the broader term “aerosols.” According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the word “Aerosol” has 2 definitions:

1. : a suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in gas ; also plural : the fine particles of an aerosol
2. : a substance (as an insecticide or medicine) dispensed from a pressurized container as an aerosol; also : the container for this

Most people think that aerosol products (the second definition) is the only definition for aerosols, and they read scientific reports on climate change and incorrectly attribute the affects of stratospheric aerosols (first definition: fine particles in the air that come from carbon emissions and other natural causes) to aerosol products. This leads to confusion and unwarranted negative association of the aerosol product form to global warming.

A recent blog posting by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) gives many examples of how technical scientific terminology is often misinterpreted by the layman. The article states “there are dozens of words common to climate change research that have the same problem, she said: “error, values, risk, uncertainty – even “aerosol,” which means a small atmospheric particle to scientists, but means “spray can” to many other people.”

Clearly there is a great deal of confusion around aerosol products, and it is important for consumers to know that aerosol products:

1. Do not contain ozone depleting substances (and haven't contained CFCs over 30 years)
2. Do not contribute to global warming

For more information and facts about aerosol products, please visit: http://www.aerosolproducts.org/

CAPCO Responds to Misinformation in Disney Cartoon

A popular Disney kid's cartoon, Phineas and Ferb has an episode "Ain't no Kiddie Ride" with a lot of misinformation about consumer aerosol sprays and the ozone layer. CAPCO sent the following letter to the Corporate Communications Department at Disney.

To Whom it May Concern:

This e-mail is regarding misinformation on the Phineas and Ferb cartoon episode “Ain't no Kiddie Ride.” In this episode, Dr. Doofensmirtz is gathering up all the aerosol cans in order to spray his name into the sky and burn a hole in the ozone layer. We are writing because of the very negative tone towards aerosol products and blatant misinformation presented in the cartoon. The cartoon tends to have somewhat of a science learning and inventive undertone, so it is even more concerning that children are being presented with misinformation about aerosol products and their impact on the environment.

The cartoon states that the aerosol products contain “ozone depleting propellants” that will be used for the “aerosol propelled Ozone Depletenator” and the “ozone depleting gases therefore destroying the protective ozone layer.” The fact is, consumer aerosol products have not contained the ozone depleting propellants Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for over 30 years.

In the mid-1970s scientists discovered that CFCs may have been damaging the Earth's upper ozone layer. At that time, many aerosol products did use CFCs as propellants. However, product manufacturers voluntarily began removing CFCs from aerosols prior to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banning them from use in aerosol products in 1978. You will find this information on the EPA website at: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/defns.html

Because of the extremely negative tone towards aerosol products which is based on faulty information, we ask that you stop playing this episode of Phineas and Ferb. Also, please consider consulting the EPA, or the www.aerosolproducts.org website for consultation for future Phineas and Ferb or other Disney sponsored programs that mention consumer aerosol products.