Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling, a project of Global Green USA, has launched a new initiative uniting beverage and recycling companies, environmental organizations and government agencies to address the issue of increasing the recycling of beverage containers.
The project's participants assembled last month to begin discussions. BEAR's members include Beaulieu of America, Tomra North America, EvCo Research LLC, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Grassroots Recycling Network and the Container Recycling Institute.
In addition to BEAR's members, partners in the MSRP include: Waste Management Inc., Southeastern Container Inc., the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance and The Coca-Cola Company.
"Increased recycling is critical to our company's growth," said Clint Hubbard, chief administrative officer of Beaulieu of America.
"We hope to secure wide support for new recycling strategies that move towards eliminating waste," said Bill Sheehan, executive director of the Grassroots Recycling Network.
To provide an objective, quantitative analysis of costs, BEAR has retained a research consulting team comprising R.W. Beck Inc., Franklin Associates Ltd., the Tellus Institute and Sound Resource Management Group.
The first stage of the Multi-Stakeholder Recovery Project -- managed by Edward Boisson of Boisson & Associates -- is expected to be completed this fall. By that time, project participants hope to agree on a set of promising solutions.
Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling, a project of Global Green USA, is a coalition dedicated to increasing the national recycling rate for used beverage containers to 80%. Its members are united by agreement on principles including: minimizing environmental impacts while improving all packaging, creating sustainable jobs and businesses, and working with clarity and honesty to understand costs and evaluate the widest range of policies and practices to achieve its goal.
More information on BEAR and the MSRP can be found at www.globalgreen.org/bear/ .