FW: Letter to NRC BOD
Pat Franklin
I’m sharing the letter below that I just emailed to the NRC BOD and Ed Skernolis and I hope that other NRC members will make your voices heard. I have asked to see the list of which members of the board voted for the merger with KAB and which ones voted against. The memo to members stated “We are unified in our support for this decision. . .” which could be interpreted as a “unanimous vote.” However, I doubt that the vote was unanimous and I think the membership deserves to know what the vote was and how the BOD, elected by the membership, voted.
I would have thought that there would be a bulletin board or someplace on the NRC Website where members could speak out on the issue of the proposed merger. If there is a forum, I can’t find it. If you can’t find another way to communicate with the board and/or staff, here’s a list of the emails for Ed and the NRC BOD.
Pat Franklin
david...@gmail.com;
garyw...@na.cokecce.com;
muer...@recycleannarbor.org;
cbu...@strategicmaterials.com;
eng...@recyclenewmexico.com; dyo...@summitfdn.org;
john.c...@casella.com; skat...@oaklandnet.com; tod_ar...@dell.com;
Sc...@Seydel.com;
svit...@na.ko.com; mcpo...@collingswifthynes.com; scott...@target.com; vanr...@epd.engr.wisc.edu; david....@ipaper.com; ca...@clm.com;
recyc...@erols.com;
BHeen...@aol.com; E...@nrc-recycle.org
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Pat Franklin
1427 Beach Walker Road
Fernandina Beach, Florida 32034
May 8, 2009
Dear Melinda and Members of the NRC Board of Directors,
As a long time member and former board member of the National Recycling Coalition, I’m dismayed at the shift from a very diverse board to one that is composed primarily of corporate and/or trade association representatives. By my count, 9 of the 15 board members fall into that category. So, while I wasn’t shocked that the board voted in favor of merging with Keep America Beautiful, it was disconcerting to say the least.
KAB is nothing more than a corporate front group, primarily for companies with a vested interest in litter and solid waste management policies, including the four largest U.S. tobacco companies, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard, the three biggest U.S. beverage companies, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi-Co and The Coca-Cola Company and the country’s largest waste hauling company, Waste Management.
KAB’s mantra, like that of their corporate funders, is that the litter and waste problem is a result of individuals carelessly throwing around and otherwise discarding the disposable products and packaging they buy. KAB has stuck to that message and it's been very effective for them, because it displaces all responsibility from the people who make what becomes garbage—the producers of disposable commodities and packaging. It shifts the responsibility away from producers, and onto consumers and taxpayers. The words “extended producer responsibility” are simply not in their lexicon.
Some of you may not know that KAB was founded in 1953, primarily by beverage companies, in direct response to the nation’s first beverage-container law—a Vermont ban on throwaway beer bottles. By the late 1970s, every legitimate conservation group on the KAB advisory board, including the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation and the US EPA, had resigned in protest of KAB’s opposition to state efforts to establish container deposit legislation. These bills would have reduced litter and increased recycling, but they were opposed by Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and the Reynolds Metal Company, all KAB corporate sponsors.
While the work of local KAB groups is valiant, the national organization does nothing to encourage corporations to do their share in preventing litter and waste. In these green times, there’s no excuse for an approach that asks millions of individuals to donate their time cleaning up other people's trash so that a handful of companies can continue to avoid taking responsibility for their post-consumer products and packaging. A merger would be bad for recycling and extended producer responsibility.
Sincerely, PS I would like to know what the vote was and how the BOD voted.
Pat Franklin