Effluence: Harvest of Trash

"Our scrap heaps can be aluminum mines," says David P. Reynolds, executive vice president of Reynolds Metals Co. In a small but worthy start toward solving the national trash problem, Reynolds is offering $200 a ton for the discarded aluminum cans that now cheapen U.S. parks, beaches and roadsides. In Miami, Reynolds is collecting 1,500 lbs. of cans a month through Goodwill Industries. In Los Angeles, it is getting ten times that from Boy Scouts, and other profit-minded collectors, who are paid half-a-cent per can. By melting down those cans, Reynolds "mines" reusable aluminum.

Unfortunately, it takes 40,000 cans to make a ton—quite a labor of love for anyone who hopes to collect $200 from Reynolds. Meantime, Americans are tossing out 500,000 tons of refuse each year, and dumping room is getting scarce. Beyond the Reynolds gesture, what can be done?

The ideal container for prodigal America is the edible ice cream cone. In this vein, there is now much talk about "bio-degradable" bottles and cans. But a container that would quickly dissolve when discarded or immersed in water has yet to hit the market. A Swedish firm, Rigello Pak A.B., claims preliminary success with a cardboard-encased, polyvinyl container that is being tested with beer. The company plans full production early next year. The Rigello bottle, though, does not actually dissolve. According to its makers, it can be crumpled easily for tidy discarding and eventually rots.

In the short run, the best bet for alleviating the litter problem may well be the old deposit system. In recent years, U.S. container makers have turned to no-deposit bottles and cans because they save handling and storage costs. Moreover, Americans have grown too affluent to claim the tiny deposit per bottle.

Now a number of state legislatures are discussing proposals to ban nonreturnable bottles. In addition, there is talk among Federal officials about a possible "effluent" tax on a variety of consumer containers. In effect, this might resemble the deposit system. The consumer would pay a small tax per can, then get his money back when he returned the can for reuse. It is an ingenious idea, but it will need far more political support before it can come to pass.