Covanta Energy and Container Recycling Institute support bottle bill

Covanta Energy, a subsidiary of Covanta Holding Corporation, announced it is supporting legislation to promote passage of a national bottle bill.

According to the Container Recycling Institute, states with bottle recycling legislation recover more than 50 percent of containers as compared to a national average of 34 percent.

“Covanta Energy is working to support passage of national bottle bill legislation that would provide the necessary framework to increase container recycling across the country. This legislation would create a more sustainable solution than the current patchwork, state-by-state legislative approach while reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Paul Gilman, Covanta’s chief sustainability officer.

“Energy-from-Waste client communities typically enjoy a higher recycling rate than the national average because they have adopted integrated waste management solutions that include curbside recycling and recovering energy from what remains. As written, the bill would provide all consumers, particularly those without curbside collection, access to convenient beverage container recycling programs.”

Gilman added that increasing the diversion rate of beverage containers will also allow Covanta to improve its Energy-from-Waste facilities’ capacity to process non-recyclable waste.”