Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, May 28, 1993, Page 8, Image 7

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OSPIRG protests manufacturer’s recycling claim
By Meg Dedolph
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OSPIRG i* beginning a "Ban
the Bum" campaign to discour
age plastic* manufacturers from
shipping recyclable plastics to a
plant in Washington where
OSPIRG says the plastic will be
burned.
Arthur Ericsson, the Eugene
summer campaign director, said
recyclable plastic* from Oregon
moy end up at the Conrad tire
pyrolysis plant in Chehalis,
Wash . for burning.
"It's o larger movement com
ing from the national plastics
industry." said Ericsson. "The
plastics industry is hopeful this
will take plai* nationwide."
He said the plastics industry
supports burning because it
keeps the market for new plastic
intact.
"If it's being burned, you need
to make new plastic to replace
that,” Ericsson said.
Ijiuri Aunan, an environmen
tal advocate for OSPIRG. said
the plastics industry has always
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secretly supported incineration,
while publicly supporting recy
cling
However. Mark Mosr.nrot of
the American Plastics Council
and manager of the Chohalis
program, said burning and
incineration are inaccurate
terms to describe the process
Mascaras said pyrolysis dif
fers from actual burning or
incineration because during
pyrolysis, the plastic is passed
through a long tube and heated
until it becomes a gas
Some of this gas is condensed
to a petroleum-based oil. some
remains in gaseous form and
some becomes carbon block, a
solid.
Meszaros said the gas will be
used to fuel the plant, meaning
the plant will be self-sufficient,
and there are markets for the liq
uid and solid by-products.
But OSPIRG objects to the
plastic industry trying to classi
fy pyrolysis os recycling when
they sav the by-products,
including the oil and gas. will
prolwiblv lx* burned
“We will not accept pyrolysis
as recycling." Ericsson said.
Burning plastic is not the
same as recycling plastic
because now plastic containers
are not being made from the old
containers. Aunon said.
Meszaros believes that the
pyrolysis pro*.ess qualifies as
recycling because the plastic is
being broken down into raw
materials that can be used to
make more plastic or other prod
ucts.
He said Conrad Industries
plans to ship the liquid byprod
uct to plants where it can be
made into more plastic.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG TED DANSON
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Despite these plans. OSPIRG
will not accept pyrolysis as recy
cling until Conrad Industries
proves new plastic is being
made from the liquid.
"I've told them. If you can
show me that barrel of oil is
shipped somewhere and mode
into something plastic, then
that's recycling.'" Aunan said.
But Meszaro* is adamant that
pyrolysis constitutes a form of
recycling
"This is recycling in the truest
sense of the word," he said.
"We re diverting material from
the landfill, we re converting it
to raw materials, and we're turn
ing it into a re-usable product."
"There's no way we can stand
up and soy '33.3 percent of this
oil is going to become new plas
tic.' because we (.an't track indi
vidual molecules." Meszaros
said.
Nancy Clines of Goodwill
Industries, which handles most
of the plastic recycling in
Eugene, believes the definition
of recycling needs to be expand
ed to include processes like
pyrolysis.
“Maybe we need to look at
plastics in a different light." she
said. “I think we're hung up on
semantics and what the original
movement started out to be.
Reduce, reuse and recycle, and
if it fits one of those three cate
gories, it's good. Wo need to stop
squabbling over semantics."
Furthermore. Meszaros said
the pyrolysis process would
allow all seven grades of plastic
to be re-used in some form.
Currently, Sanipac. a garbage
collection service in Eugene
only accepts No. J. No. 2 and
No. 5 plastic, three of the seven
grades considered recyclable.
Most of the plastic collected
— about 90 percent — is No 1
and No. 2 plastic, according to
(ioodwill Industries, which han
dles Sampnc's plastic, recycling
program.
From the three kinds of plas
tic collected, only No 2 plastic,
which includes milk bottles, has
a steady market Sanipac is
working on finding a market for
No. t plastic, which is used to
make liter soda bottles and is the
only kind of plastic approved to
recycle into food containers.
Old milk bottles cannot be
recycled into new food contain
ers because the recycling
process does not completely
purify the plastic.
There is no constant market
for No 5 plastic, which includes
yogurt containers.
Clines said Goodwill tries to
save the No. 5 plastic collected
until there is a market, but it
often ends up in a landfill.
Another objection raised by
OSPIRG is that the pyrolysis
process is a new and untested
one, whereas other recycling
methods work.
"IPs a complete experimental
process." Aunan said. "They’re
not helping companies in Ore
gon that are doing real plastic
recycling."
“The plastic industry is
putting millions of dollars into
pyrolysis which they should use
for recycling.” Ericsson said.
Meszaros said he hopes pyrol
ysis will complement other
means of recycling plastic rather
than replace it.
"We don't want soda bottles
and milk jugs," he said. "We
want those to be recycled
mechanically."
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