more so important than the rise in sea levels and melting of glaciers since peoples existence are endangered.What do I think? With companies like Echo Environmental, and there ideasthat involve, the glass industry. This industry in the United States generated $26 billion of glass shipments in 1996 (the most recent available statistics). Yet, of that amount only about 25 percent is currently recycled, most through curbside collection and/or bottle return programs. Of the amount that is collected, nearly 50 percent cannot be recycled because it is broken or colored glass (23 percent of all glass is brown and 13 percent is green, which is not recyclable). Glass usage is declining about two percent per year.The unrecyclable portion of the recycled glass provides the supply of raw materials for the manufacture of concrete products. The recycled glass is processed through material recovery facilities with some of the glass going to packages and the unrecylced portion transported to landfills or placed in storage.The grassroots movement to recycle products is strong to force local, state and federal governments to legislate glass recycling, which can be either curbside collection or bottle returns. Ten states have “bottle bills” or deposit laws,” (which require beverage retailers to pay consumers a refund for returning empty containers and wholesale distributors to pay retailers a refund).The first of these laws passed in 1971; however, there has not been a new bottle bill passed since 1986. Currently, the U.S. Senate is considering the National Beverage Container Reuse and Recycling Act of 1999 (S.859), which would “…amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require a refund value for certain beverage containers to provide resources for state pollution prevention and recycling programs. In a nut shell this company is one of the few companies that is making something out of nothing, and this is what are planet needs...
