EnviroNews
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Media Contacts:
Melanie Fish or Kelli Johnson
mfish@enviromedia.com, 512-293-9693 (cell)
kjohnson@enviromedia.com, 512-784-8507 (cell)
More than Half of Americans Support Mandatory Recycling to Help Reduce Global Warming
New national poll shows positive public response, but recycling numbers still gloomy
(AUSTIN, Texas)—On today’s 10th anniversary of America Recycles Day (Nov. 15), new research commissioned by its founders shows more than half of Americans support mandatory recycling as a strategy to help reduce global warming.
Yet founders Kevin Tuerff and Valerie Davis are commemorating the initiative’s anniversary today by camping out in a landfill to express their dismay at the country’s lack of recycling progress.
“A surprising 76 percent of Americans believe recycling at home can reduce their contribution to global warming,” said Kevin Tuerff, president and principal of EnviroMedia Social Marketing. “We are enthused by the response but aren’t sure Americans really understand the connection and how it helps.”
Recycling now crawls forward at an alarmingly slow pace. The nation’s overall recycling rate skyrocketed 80 percent in the 1990s according to Environmental Protection Agency figures. Since 2000, the rate has climbed a mere 12 percent.
“Back when we started America Recycles Day in 1997, leaders projected half of all waste would be recycled by now. We’re at 32 percent, and that’s a huge disappointment for conservation,” said Tuerff.
Of those Americans who believe recycling at home can reduce global warming, 80 percent would support mandatory recycling.
“Younger people are more likely than other age groups to support mandatory recycling and believe recycling at home can help reduce global warming,” said Davis, EnviroMedia principal and CEO.
Of people ages 18 to 34, 84 percent believed recycling at home could help, compared with 61 percent of people ages 65 and over. Of U.S. regions, people in the northeast (91 percent) are most likely to support mandatory recycling as a strategy to reduce global warming.
The research, conducted by International Communications Research among 1,348 adults, represents a cross section of the U.S.
Live from the Landfill
While at the landfill today, Tuerff and Davis are encouraging Americans to engage in a conversation about recycling and how it can help curb the advancement of global warming. They will blog continuously at http://livefromthelandfill.blog.com and invite questions about recycling at 512-773-7452 (direct line for media only).
“Recycling can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global climate change,” said Davis. “We need to demand more recycling programs for homes and businesses and break away from the toss-away mentality that has proliferated in America in the last several decades.”
Dismal Progress
Tuerff and Davis blame the lack of progress on four things: more than 150 fewer curbside recycling programs exist in the U.S. since 1996; manufacturers’ disinterest in using recycled materials; diminishing community programs and education budgets to remind people to recycle; and the proliferation of plastic water bottles.
Those plastic bottles present the saddest story today in America’s recycling efforts. The Container Recycling Institute reports just 14 percent of plastic water bottles are being recycled. Meanwhile, per capita consumption of bottled water has more than doubled in the U.S. since the first America Recycles Day.
Getting It All Started
In 1997, Kevin Tuerff and Valerie Davis pulled together private companies, environmental groups and government agencies to create the first America Recycles Day, which was chaired by then Vice President Al Gore. It was an unprecedented effort to present a united message to the public about the importance of recycling and buying recycled products.
That effort gave birth to EnviroMedia Social Marketing. When the company opened its doors in 1997, it was the first full-service advertising and PR firm in the nation dedicated solely to improving the environment and public health. Tuerff and Davis are the principals of the agency and still passionate about recycling but deeply disappointed at its slow progress.
"Waste Management supports environmental initiatives that reduce the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills," says Steve Jacobs, Central Texas Landfill Manager. "America Recycles Day is a great opportunity to remind consumers and businesses to recycle and reuse.”
What You (and all of us) Can Do
As Tuerff and Davis spend the 10th annual America Recycles Day in a rapidly filling landfill, they call on everyone to reinvigorate their recycling efforts. But they also believe voluntary recycling programs can’t do it all, so governments must provide encouragement, whether it is financial incentives or mandated recycling.
“It’s been 10 years since we started America Recycles Day, and we must start re-educating people today,” said Tuerff. “To slow climate change, one of the easiest solutions in the toolbox is recycling.”
EnviroMedia Social Marketing is an agency working to affect positive behavioral and social change for environmental and public health issues. Agency employees will celebrate America Recycles Day during their annual office cleanup, where functional and usable office items are “recycled” through a donation to Goodwill.
America Recycles Day (Nov. 15), led by the nonprofit National Recycling Coalition, asks Americans to pledge to recycle more at home and to buy products made with recycled materials. www.americarecyclesday.org. It was established in 1997 and is based on the Texas Recycles Day program founded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 1994.
Waste Management’s Austin Community Landfill offers free electronics recycling with Goodwill Industries, as well as free Christmas tree recycling. Waste Management donates the mulch to Austin Habitat for Humanity for landscaping and uses it for erosion control at the landfill and at its new Wildlife Habitat Park on Springdale Road. Waste Management re-uses materials such as tires and crushed concrete in its landfill operations. Waste Management, combined with its wholly owned subsidiary Recycle America, is North America’s largest recycler.
MEDIA NOTE: Please call the media contacts if you’d like to make a photo assignment and need directions to the landfill.
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