Reduce, Reuse, Refill!

Dedicated to Promoting Refillable Beverage Containers

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Prepared by the
Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
Washington, D.C.

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Links to Information on Refillable Beverage Containers

Environmental Organizations

Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)
927 15th Street, NW, 4th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
202-898-1610

ILSR is a nonprofit research and educational organization that provides technical assistance and information to government, citizens, and industry. With funding from the GrassRoots Recycling Network, ILSR researched the information and wrote these web pages about refillable beverage containers. For more information about ILSR’s Waste-to-Wealth program, click here .

Container Recycling Institute
1911 Ft. Myer Drive, Suite 900
Arlington, Virginia 22209-1603
Tel.: 703-276-9800
This nonprofit organization is the national voice for beverage container deposit legislation. CRI plays a vital role in educating policy-makers, government officials, and the general public about the social and environmental impacts of the production and disposal of no-deposit, no-return beverage containers and the need for producers to take responsibility for their wasteful packaging. Its web site gives facts, figures, and commentaries about beverage container recycling. The CRI maintains another web site, the “Bottle Bill Resource Guide” , which provides information for promoting beverage container deposit laws.

INFORM, Inc.
120 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005-4001
Tel.: 212-361-2400
In addition to Case Reopened, this nonprofit environmental research organization has published several other books about waste prevention strategies.

Citizens’ Network on Waste Management
17 Major Street
Kitchener, ON N2H 2R1
Tel.: 519-744-7503
This 15-year-old network of citizens’ groups from all across Ontario advocates minimizing consumption, maximizing reuse, and eliminating waste disposal.

Toronto Environmental Alliance
401 Richmond St. West, Suite 104
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
Tel.: 416-596-0660
This organization’s web site presents arguments for refilling.

European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
34, BD de Waterloo
B-1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: +32 (2) 289.10.90
The EEB is a federation of 134 grassroots environmental organizations from all EU member states and other European countries. The mission of the EEB is to protect and improve the environment of Europe and to enable the citizens of Europe to participate in the fulfillment of that mission. To help fulfill its mission, the EEB monitors and addresses EU environmental policy. The EEB’s position statement on the 2001 revision of the EU packaging directive calls for more specific provisions to promote the reuse of packaging. In 1999, the EEB issued another statement calling for a continent-wide tax on beverage containers.

Greenpeace Austria
Siebenbrunnengasse 44
A-1050 Wien
Tel.: 01/545 45 80
Click here for some information (in German) about the environmental and economic aspects of refillable beverage containers.

Information Sources

Raymond Communications, Inc.
5111 Berwyn Rd., #115
College Park, MD 20740
Tel.: 301-345-4237
Raymond Communications publishes the newsletter State Recycling Laws Update and the newsletter Recycling Laws International, which provides the latest news about developments in the packaging laws of many countries. Raymond offers online and print subscriptions to both of these publications; see its web site for more information.

Solid Waste & Recycling
Southam Environment Group
1450 Don Mills Road
Don Mills, ON M3B 2X7
Tel.: 416-442-2292
This Canadian journal often has articles about beverage container recycling and reuse in Canada. Its web site has selected articles from issues dating back to 1996 and from other publications.

Zenith International, Ltd.
7 Kingsmead Square
Bath BA1 2AB
United Kingdom
+44 (0)1225 327900
Zenith International, Ltd, is a consulting firm for the food, beverage, and packaging industries worldwide. Its web site has dozens of links to beverage companies and trade associations.

Verpackungs-Rundschau
Keppler Medien Gruppe
P. Keppler Verlag GmbH & Co KG
Industriestraße 2
D-63150 Heusenstamm
Germany
Tel: +49/(0) 6104/606-207
Verpackungs-Rundschau is a magazine of the packaging industry in Europe. Its web site has news and information about developments in packaging, including beverage containers.

Packexpo.com
Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute
4350 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 600
Arlington, VA 22203
Tel.: 703-243-8555
The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute is an association of manufacturers of packaging and packaging machinery in the U.S. and Canada. Its web site provides news bits about the latest developments in packaging legislation, technology, and commerce.

Dotpackaging
Packaging Magazine
CMP Information, Ltd.
Sovereign Way
Tonbridge
Kent TN9 1RW
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (0)1732 377486
The web site of Packaging Magazine, “Dotpackaging,” provides news about packaging legislation in Europe.

Beverage Associations

The Canadian Soft Drink Association (CSDA)
121 Richmond St. W, Suite 901
Toronto, ON M5H 2K1
Tel.: 416-362-2424
Among the soft-drink associations worldwide, the CSDA is probably the most outspoken opponent of refilling. Click here to read its equivocal assertions about Prince Edward Island’s ban on non-refillable containers.

Brewers Association of Canada
1200 - 155 Queen Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 6L1
Tel.: 613-232-9601
The Brewers Association of Canada represents brewing companies operating in Canada. In Canada, refillable bottles make up almost 70 percent of beer packaging.

Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry
PL 115 (Pasilankatu 2)
FIN-00241 Helsinki
Finland
Tel.: +358 9 148 871
This trade association, also known as Panimoliitto, manages the refillable bottle pool for its members. Its web site boasts about the popularity of refillable bottles in Finland and discusses the environmental benefits and other aspects of refilling there.

Swedish Brewers Association
Box 8104
Polhemsgatan 29
S-104 20 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel.: +46 8 566 213 00
Although the membership of this trade association includes beer companies and soft-drink, cider, and bottled-water companies, its main mission is to promote the interests of the beer industry. Its web site has much information about refilling in Sweden.

Vereniging Nederlandse Frisdranken Industrie (NFI)
Heemraadssingel 167
Postbus 26155
3002 ED Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Tel.: 010 Ð 477 40 33
The NFI is the trade association of the Dutch soft-drink and mineral-water industries. Its web site has information about refilling in The Netherlands and about bottling processes.

Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor (CBK)
Herengracht 282
1016 BX Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: 020-6252251
The CBK is the trade association of Dutch brewers. Its online brochure, available only in Dutch, has information about beer packaging in The Netherlands and in Europe.

The Brewers of Europe (CBMC)
Chausse de la Hulpe 181, Bte 20
B - 1170 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: 32-2 672 23 92
The CBMC is the trade confederation of the national brewers’ associations from the 15 EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, and Romania. Click here to obtain the packaging mix for beer in several European nations.

The Danish Brewers’ Association
Frederiksberggade 11
DK-1459 Copenhagen
Tel.: + 45 33 12 62 41
The Danish Brewers’ Association is the trade association of both the beer and the soft-drink industries in Denmark. Click here for information about the management system in Denmark for refillable bottles.

Dansk Retursystem A/S
Skagensgade 64 Høje
Taastrup
2630 Taastrup
Postboks 19
Denmark
Tel.: +45 43 32 32 32
Danish brewers and soft-drink bottlers established this non-profit organization in June 2000 to provide retailers reimbursement and technical assistance for the management of empty bottles. This organization also has been planning a deposit-return system for one-way containers, which are slated for introduction in early 2002 following the repeal of the can ban.

Norwegian Brewers and Soft Drink Producers
Postboks 7087 Majorstuen
N-0306 Oslo
Norway
Tel.: +47 23 08 86 9
The web site of this trade association includes information about Norway’s taxes on one-way beverage containers and about the packaging mix for beverages.

ANIRSF
Portuguese Association of the Soft Drink and Fruit Juice Industries
Av. Miguel Bombarda N° 110
2°Dt°
1050-167 Lisboa
Portugal
Tel.: 21 794.05.74
This association’s web site has statistics about the consumption and packaging of non-alcoholic beverages in Portugal.

Genossenschaft Deutscher Brunnen, e.G. (GDB)
Kennedyallee 36
53175 Bonn
Germany
Tel.: 0228/ 95 95 9-0
The GDB manages the refilling system for mineral water bottlers in Germany and describes this system on its web site.

Wirtschaftsvereinigung Alkoholfreie Getränke, e. V. (WAFG)
Friedrichstraße 231
10969 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: 030/259258-0
The WAFG is the trade association of producers of non-alcoholic beverages in Germany. Its web site, which is written only in German, includes press releases about its responses to developments in Germany’s beverage container laws.

Beverage Companies

Seaman’s Beverages
23 Fourth Street
Charlottetown, PE C1E 2B4
Tel.: 902-566-4700
Seaman’s bottles Pepsi products and Seaman’s own variety of old-fashioned soda pops in refillable bottles for the Prince Edward Island market.

Ale-8-One Bottling Company
P.O. Box 645
Winchester, Kentucky 40392
Tel.: 859-744-3484
Ale-8-One is probably the only remaining soft-drink company in the U.S. that packages its products in refillable bottles. Its market includes Central and Eastern Kentucky and parts of Indiana and Ohio.

Brewers Retail, Inc.
The Beer Store Corporate Centre
5900 Explorer Drive
Mississauga, ON L4W 5L2
Tel.: 1-800-387-1314
Brewers Retail, Inc., (BRI) also known as The Beer Store, is Ontario’s primary beer retailer. BRI not only collects aluminum cans and refillable bottles under its deposit-return system, but also reuses or recycles almost all of its secondary and transport packaging.

Labatt Breweries of Canada
Labatt House
200-181 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M5J 2T3
Tel.: 416-361-5050
Labatt is one of Canada’s major brewers. Molson and Moosehead are among the others. Labatt’s web site boasts about the company’s use of refillable bottles and about its recovery of most of the packaging that comes with its products.

Oberweis Dairy
951 Ice Cream Drive, Sweet One
North Aurora, IL 60542
Tel.: 630-801-6100 or 1-888-MILK-TO-U
While most dairies that offer milk in refillable bottles deliver them only to homes or schools, Oberweis Dairy delivers milk in refillable glass bottles to both homes and stores. Its market territory includes the Chicago metropolitan region, some other parts of Illinois, and the St. Louis metropolitan region.

Government Organizations

Prince Edward Island Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Environment (FAE)
P. O. Box 2000
Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
Tel.: 902-368-6664
The FAE’s web site explains Prince Edward Island’s ban on non-refillable containers and gives a brief history of beverage containers.

New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government (ELG)
Marysville Place
P. O. Box 6000
Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1
Tel.: 506-453-3064
The ELG’s web site describes New Brunswick’s deposit-return system.

Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DEPA)
29 Strandgade
DK-1401 København K
Denmark
Tel: +45 32 66 01 00
With its ban on non-refillable containers for domestic beer and soft drinks and its taxes on all beverage containers, Denmark has probably the world’s most comprehensive approach to managing beverage packaging. (In 2002, the can ban was repealed; the country’s beverage packaging will certainly be shifting.) The DEPA is an agency within the Ministry of Environment and Energy .

Ministry of the Environment
P.O. Box 380
FIN- 00131 Helsinki
Finland
Tel.: +358-9-19911
Click here to read a summary of Finland’s laws regarding beverage container taxes.

Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT)
Strømsveien 96
P. O. Box 8100 Dep
NO-0032 Oslo
Norway
Tel.: +47 22 57 34 00
This agency of the Ministry of the Environment administers Norway’s waste management programs.

The German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU)
Alexanderplatz 6
D - 10178 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 1888 305-0
Click here to see the 1991, 1997, 1998, and 1999 volume percentages of beverage production in refillable containers.

Federal Environmental Agency (UBA)
Postfach 33 00 22
14191 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 30 8903-0
This agency provides scientific and technical support for the Federal Environment Ministry. Its mission includes formulating regulations, collecting data, and educating the public about the environment. Click here to read some general information about refillable containers and here to see the 1991-1997 volume percentages of beverage production in refillable containers.

Instituto dos Resíduos
Av. Almirante Gago Coutinho
N° 30 5°
1000-017 Lisboa
Portugal
Tel.: 21 842 40 00
The Instituto dos Resíduos and CARGERE (Commission for the Management of Packaging and Packaging Waste) together administer Portugal’s packaging waste management programs, including those for the reuse of beverage containers. Its web site, which will soon have an English version, has administrative documents pertaining to Portugal’s refilling laws.

Database of Environmental Taxes in the European Union Member States, plus Norway and Switzerland
European Commission (EC)
200 rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
This web site presents data and basic facts about environmental taxes, including those on beverage packaging, that many European nations use. Since the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste became effective in 1994, the EC has published several studies about the management of packaging in Europe. The EU environment web site has links to these studies, some of which are described in the bibliography page of this web site about refillable beverage containers.

OECD Environment Directorate
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
2, Rue André Pascal
75775 Paris Cedex 16
France
The OECD database of environmental taxes has information about beverage container taxes in OECD member countries. The OECD also has a web site about extended producer responsibility (EPR).

Packaging Associations

EUROPEN
European Organization for Packaging and the Environment
Le Royal Tervuren
Avenue de l’Armée 6 Legerlaan
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 736 3600
EUROPEN voices industry’s views about packaging and the environment. Its recently-launched bulletin gives news about packaging legislation in Europe.

Working Party on Packaging and the Environment (AGVU)
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verpackung und Umwelt e.V.
Bonner Talweg 64
D-53113 Bonn
Germany
Tel.: + 49 228 949290
The AGVU is an association of the packaging, retail trade, consumer goods, and recycling industries in Germany Read its statement regarding the quota and the results of a study on one-way packaging.

Informations-Zentrum Weißblech e.V.
Fürstenwall 99
D-40217 Düsseldorf
Tel.: +49 0211/38659-0
The Informations-Zentrum Weißblech e.V. provides news and information about the tinplate industry and has issued three press releases that demand the abolition of Germany’s beverage container laws and argue against refilling.

Duales System Deutschland AG
Frankfurter Straße 720-726
D-51145 Köln-Porz-Eil
Germany
Tel.: ++49-2203-937-0
Duales System Deutschland is a non-profit organization that oversees and coordinates the collection, sorting, and recycling of packaging waste in Germany. Click here to see the results of a poll that measures German attitudes about energy and packaging consumption.

Life-Cycle Analysis

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
1010 North 12th Avenue
Pensacola, FL 32501-3370
Tel.: 850-469-1500
SETAC is an independent, nonprofit professional organization of individuals and institutions engaged in the environmental sciences. Its web site lists its publications about life-cycle analysis (LCA). The SETAC LCA Advisory Group endeavors to advance the science of environmental life-cycle analysis.

Centre for Environmental Science
Section on Substances and Products
P.O. Box 9518
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 71 5277477
This institute of Leiden University is working with SETAC and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to develop standard methodologies for life-cycle analysis.

PRé Consultants BV
Plotterweg 12
3821 BB Amersfoort
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 33 4555022
PRé Consultants develops and sells life-cycle analysis (LCA) software and provides consulting services in LCA and in the development of environmentally-friendly products. Its web site has three pages that explain what LCAs are and how they are conducted.

Institut für Energie und Umweltforschung Heidelberg
Wilckensstraße 3
D-69120 Heidelberg
Tel.: +49 (0) 6221 / 47 67 - 0
This independent environmental research institute at Heidelberg University in Germany conducted the recent life-cycle analysis study for the German Federal Environment Ministry. Its web site briefly describes some of its other LCA projects.


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