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.

Traveling Tips for Aerosol Products

Not sure which personal care items you are allowed to bring on your business trip or vacation?  Aerosol products such as hairspray, shaving gel, and spray deodorant are allowed, and airport security guidelines have made it easier to follow the guidelines with the 3-1-1 rule:

Please visit www.tsa.gov for more information

You are allowed containers of liquid, aerosol or otherwise, as long as they are 3.4 oz or 100 mL or smaller, placed inside a quart-size zip-top bag, and use one bag per traveler in the security bin.  Only 1 zip-top bag per person is allowed, to limit the overall amounts of liquids, aerosols, and gels on the flight.

If you have larger containers, more containers, or have a long flight, it is recommended to put them in your checked baggage. 

Using the 3-1-1 system will help you to avoid long waits at the TSA security checkpoints, and ensures that everyone has a safer flight. 

For aerosol items specifically, TSA allows them in those quantities as long as they are for personal care or toiletry use. 

The Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO) encourages all consumers to use aerosol products according to instructions on the label, and reminds consumers that aerosol products are recyclable when empty and have been free of CFCs for over 30 years.  For more information about aerosol products please visit www.AerosolProducts.org.

A NOT So Funny Home Video

A recent episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos showed a man striking a can of spray paint with an axe.  The can burst leaving blue paint all over the man’s face.  The video was presented in kind of a slap-stick clowning around tone, but puncturing any aerosol can is nothing to clown around about and presents serious safety risks.  The Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO) wrote a letter to the producer of the show addressing our concerns about the video making light of a very dangerous act that is clearly against the instructions for safe usage of the product, as well as our concerns that children or others might also try to imitate the act. 

We received a prompt response from Vin Di Bona Productions addressing our concerns and agreeing to avoid using the clip again in future episodes.  CAPCO and the aerosol products industry are dedicated to providing consumers with accurate information about aerosol products, including proper use and disposal, to learn more please visit www.aerosolproducts.org.  

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.

Expanding CAPCO Educational Messages through New Channels

As part of CAPCO’s mission to provide accurate information about aerosol products, one of its key target audiences is teachers.  In addition to attending the National Science Teachers Association annual conference each year where CAPCO reaches thousands of teachers with its messaging about recycling aerosol product containers, the technology used in aerosols and correcting any dated misconceptions about aerosol products and the environment, CAPCO also supports other groups as well.

Women in Science:

The Oklahoma Women in Science Conference is free to all participants and features many speakers
and hands on activities for approximately 500 girls and their 90 teachers to encourage them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).   Research shows (link to source) only 15% of incoming coming college freshmen women intend to pursue a major in STEM as compared to 30% of men. Keeping Math & Science at the forefront for all students is important to maintain a high level of product innovation in the aerosol products industry as well as important for our workforce as a whole to stay at the leading edge of innovation.


 

Percentage of Employed STEM Professionals Who Are Women, Selected Professions, 2008

Women are clearly a minority in STEM focused studies and careers and CAPCO was pleased to support the Oklahoma Women in Science Conference by sending full-color flyers highlighting all of its web-based educational resources, a hand-out on Recycling Facts and was also listed on the conference’s wiki space.  Dr. Theresa Cullen, Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at University of Oklahoma and key organizer for the event, finds value in giving the students a broad perspective on issues and strives to include materials both from regulatory bodies as well as from industry.

Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products:

The Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products has begun an outreach program to help educate Chilean students about aerosol product technology, recycling aerosol cans and aerosols and the environment.  As part of their outreach efforts, they are having the “Another Amazing Aerosol Adventure”  educational video professionally translated into Spanish.  This will be a great opportunity not only for the Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products to reach out in Chile, but also for CAPCO to reach more of the Spanish speaking market in the U.S. and other Spanish speaking countries.

Let’s Be Clear about Today’s Aerosol Products and the Ozone

A recent study has been causing some more confusion about aerosol products. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-led study published on October 2nd reported higher than normal levels of ozone depletion in the Arctic. Traditionally, most of the ozone depletion to date has been tracked in the colder Antarctic.

The primary driver of the ozone loss was colder than average temperatures. The very low temperatures allow chemical reactions with man-made chlorine-based chemicals to take place in the stratosphere that deplete the ozone. However, many of the articles that reference the study, incorrectly blame the use of aerosol products without clarifying that that today’s aerosol products no longer contain the chlorine-based chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and have not in the U.S. since 1978!

While it is true that the chlorine-based chemicals have a long atmospheric lifetime, most of that used 30-50 years ago is no longer in the atmosphere... Today’s aerosol products in the U.S., European Union, and most countries in the developed world no longer have any CFCs, so consumers can continue to use them without concern of adverse effects on the ozone.