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Sacramento – With
bottles and cans piling up in America’s
landfills at an alarming rate of more
than 250 million a day, the California
Department of Conservation has released
its annual Green Gift Guide™ to help
consumers “close the loop” on recycling.
Available now at
www.bottlesandcans.com, this
national catalog of “What’s Hot in
What’s Recycled” is designed to promote
recycled products and help divert
billions of beverage containers from the
trash.
In California alone,
about 100 million plastic water bottles
will end up in the trash between
Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. If
recycled, those water bottles could be
used to make 48,000 sweaters, 220,000
t-shirts or 220,000 square feet of
carpeting.
The Green Gift Guide™
showcases easy-to-find gifts such as an
all-weather L.L. Bean ® Adirondack chair
made from recycled plastic jugs,
Birkenstock ® socks made from recycled
plastic water bottles, beautiful
dinnerware made from recycled glass
bottles and decorative items made from
recycled aluminum cans.
“Surprisingly, many
consumers simply aren’t aware of all the
wonderful products that can be made form
recycled bottles and cans,” said Darryl
Young, California Department of
Conservation director. “In addition,
there is a real misconception that
‘green’ products are harder to find or
more expensive. We are hoping that the
Green Gift Guide™ will help dissolve
that myth.”
In addition to a
variety of gifts made from recycled
material, the 2003 Green Gift Guide™
includes simple hints and suggestions on
how to shop for creative, eco-friendly
products, conserve natural resources,
save energy and simple “green living”
tips for year-round.
Environmentally
friendly gifts and holiday materials can
be found at a number of mainstream
consumer stores, as well as a variety of
online shops. From wrapping paper and
greeting cards to affordable
one-of-a-kind items, the guide provides
a range of ideas on how to make this
season more “green.”
"Recycling bottles,
cans and other items is just part of the
solution,” said Young. “Shopping for
recycled-content products helps close
the recycling loop by increasing demand
for recycled materials.”
California is one of
10 states with a beverage
container-recycling program. The
Department of Conservation administers
the California Beverage Container
Recycling and Litter Reduction Act,
which became law in 1986. The primary
goal of the act is to achieve and
maintain high recycling rates for the
billions of aluminum, glass and plastic
beverage containers included in the
program.
Consumers pay CRV
(California Refund Value) when they
purchase beverages from a retailer. The
deposits are refunded when empty
containers are redeemed through local
recycling centers. Along with the Green
Gift Guide™, more information on the
state's beverage container recycling
program is available at
www.bottlesandcans.com, or, within
California, by calling 1-800-RECYCLE.
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