
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100599
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HEINZ CATCHING UP IN RECYCLING BOTTLES

Responding to consumer pressure for more environmentally friendly packaging, H.J. Heinz Co. said Monday that it would replace its plastic ketchup bottle with another type of plastic that it said was much more likely to be recycled.

The existing squeezable bottle has been criticized by environmental groups because it is made of six layers of plastics and adhesives, which make it impossible to recycle economically.

Although the new bottle contains five layers, Heinz officials said it could be recycled by the same process used for large soda bottles.

"Overwhelmingly, consumers have indicated their interest in `environmentally safe' packaging," said Anthony O'Reilly, Heinz's chairman.

He said the company hoped to improve its 51 percent share of the $600 million-a-year domestic ketchup market by prominently labeling the bottle as recyclable.

Representatives of environmental groups described the Heinz move as a step in the right direction, but cautioned that no collection and processing centers were available to re-use the discarded bottles in most parts of the country.

They also questioned Heinz's plan to advertise recyclability on the label when most bottles will simply be discarded.

"They had a container that was unrecyclable in theory and practice," said John Ruston, an economic analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund in New York. "Now it is recyclable in theory."

Alan Hershkowitz, a senior staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, also in New York, said that "less than 1 percent of all plastic in this country is recycled. Millions of these bottles are going to go to landfills and burning facilities."

In contrast to paper and metal, which have well-developed recycling systems in place, recycling of plastics on a large scale is just beginning.

by CNB