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The American Health Foundation Newsletter The American Health Fottndi?tion, Inc. EDITORIAL E3OARD 2 East End Meflue Giihert Cant. Charrrran Ne'.v York, N.Y. 10021 Delbery Jones. Ed tor (212) 628-6300 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES: President Ernest L. V'Jynder, M D. Secretary Thomas J Ross• Jr. Vice President AmerrcanA:rlin ,,inc. Executive Vice President David L. Davies Treasurer Warner G Cosgrove. Jr. Managing Partner Shields & Company - Honorary Chairman: David J Mahoney President. Norton Simon, Inc. 7RUSTEES. Chairman William J. Levitt Chairman. E3oard of Directors Levrtt and Sons, Inc Louis V. Aronson. 11 President Ronson Corporation Mrs Charles A. Dana Waffer E. Hanson Senior Partner Peat. Mar.vick, Mitchell & Co GeorgeJames. M D., M.P.H- Dean Mount Sinai School of Medicine G. William Moore President Fieldcrest Mifls. Inc. Joseph M. Murtha President Sandgren & Murtha, Inc. Robert R. Pauley Maxwell tv1. Rabb Partner Strcock & Stroock & Lavan Fredrick E. Rathgeber Executlve Vice President The Prudential Insurance Companyof Amenca BC?ARD OF SCIENTIF'!C CONSULTANTS: Chairman George James. M D. M P H Dean 6tount Sinai School of Medicine Alvin Freiman M D Ch ef of Cardcfogy , Memorial Hosp;tal ' for Cancer and Allied Daeeses Soi R. Baker, M D Associate Clinical Professbr of Radiology Unr: ers!fy od Californ,a a; LosAngeles Les•er greslow. M D. M P H. Detr, c` Prevr~iil':e eno JoCJa! Med:cine SCh?JI Of ?:'Pid!C6^:e Ur,: ersity of Cah'o, nia at Los Angeles Gi'bert Cant Medical Editor &Consuitant Time. Inc. John Cassel. M, D_ M P H Depnrtment of Ec:demiolor,y Uncversrty of North Carol:na Jeromw Cornfield. >."• A Prof e ;sor cf Biot.-_•rsf-cs Scnool of Pubic I te ::n Un,,ersmryof Pittco gh PE`,o-J DLboS.PhD Pr „ t Ev.. ... i=,? D Herman E. Ht:fak•oe. W D.. M P H De Lamar Prof«asc•or oi Public Heaith Pra:tice Columbia Univr,rsirj Takeshi Hrrayania M D Chief of EoEdem:^Sr.^y Drn~ron Nationaf Cancer C,e'iteriJnpan; Edward Vd. iCarn ii•J S.E B:. M 5 E.E. tJice Presir9ent , Revlon. Inc Marvln Kus't;hnr+r• ty!',D Professor of Paih~olo{!y dy"c•dicai Center New York University G. E Livinuston. Ph.D. Profes:;r and I?ont•,tor of Fcod Science 'rror;ram irstitute of Nwr:non Soences Columbia University Gotthard Schet::er M D Profes,ur of ".tc,J-canF Urdversi: v of !-!e!delberg ;Gerrnany'r Mcrton K Sr, hwArtz. Ph D Chairman, G't of E?,o"',emi~try >orClr;cr :r.c+~=:6n,rD~sea,•:; Thco.:?ore 3 v-rn !+.~I!.,~ r.t D tJlrc•._tor jf S:f P,rb~~s'r.r,rf by Th~. A"?er~.cn'? t.f•:,~ih rourrteuon• Ir.c.. a n•m •p.c.ht ta.=.r:,c.^,~r, tt:rrorat,'r,n l:;.t~,rf fr.r ~~.;ushr,r. erli,c:,r`-onal. ':crrmumr_z• s:+: Car^ V-c., arf. !tt•r:? .ru, ne•...e~;, . !r.'., i, .. .: ..r.. :,it.. ;'rOjr.xo--;.n r-u'.^ .. ,•11r:. , .. ... !•, . H. . Ih Puunr.',1Ucn 2 L tr.i Fnd ,.e .,,, . tJ••v.. .a~.. N Y tt.. ;1 L4 a Pollution Control Programs for U.S. Packaging Offer Too Many Promises, Too Little Planning by Joseph M. Murtha' Many people in marketing, in industry generally, and in government, consumer protection, conservation, science, and public health-not all, but many of these people are beginning to sound a lot like the fortune- teller whose wares are touted from a street corner. They are deeply concerned, and quite properly, with what has come to be called The Environmental Crisis. With pollution of our air and water- ways. With waste disposal. With the population explosion. With the wasting away of our natural resources. And with the quality- Mr. Murtha of-life, not only for the next gen- eration, but for our own. Now. Today. There has been a great national outcry, and it has been followed by an avalanche of proposals, panaceas, and programs. I take the position, however, that we have been promising too much, and planning too little, and that I-Care cam- paigns alone will not do the job. Indeed, a massive, coordinated, national effort is needed. For the lesson we have learned most clearly from the ecologists is that everything is related to everything else. This has been shown to be true in nature, in science, in the life cycle, and now there is increasing recognition that it is also true in marketing, communications, and corporate management. Moving Too Slowly: It is my feeling that industry has moved too slowly, too cautiously, and that industry, as a whole, is far behind the times in its resolve to reduce and control pollution. The initiative, if it can be called that, has been controlled and accelerated by health and conservation groups, government, and con- sumer advocates. Industry has been "reacting" mostly, and probably depending too much on the powers of persuasive advertising to confirm its claims about environmental protection. This is a rather harsh view of industry's participation in what may be our most serious national problem, and I don't'mean to overlook the many good things that industry is doing. I would doubt, for example, that the reclamation and recycling programs now being con- ducted by companies like Reynolds, Kaiser, General Foods, St. Regis, National Steel, Coca Cola, and so many others are motivated by their profit-making potential. I am even more certain that they are not, as has been charged, some kind of gimmick. Charting the Course: These programs are going too far, costing too much, requiring too much planning, cutting too deeply into profits in a time of recession and re- trenchment, to be characterized as window-dressing. I think they should be encouraged, supported, and ex- panded still more. I think that those who have not yet started them, should start them, and that this is being done, too. Not fast enough? Perhaps. But before we

could land a man on the moon, there was 15 or more years of multi-billion dollar effort, research, training and trials. And it is at this level we must now approach our environmental aspirations and problems. Packaging in Perspective: The packaging industry, in particular, is highly visible-and vulnerable. It is the grand-daddy of American litterbugs, according to some. .It is the whipping-boy for opportunistic politicians, according to others. In truth, packaging is being keel- hauled from all sides, and needs to set its house in order. It is looking for new directions, new solutions, new guidelines. And it is doing more, much more, than government recognizes and more than consumers can understand or appreciate. Yet, we continue to hear, both from government and the public, that increased degradability must be built into packaging. Even within the packaging industry, many research programs are giving more and more attention to new kinds of self-destructive materials. And there are a number of promising areas, including: steel cans with- out any external coatings for protection; packaging papers formulated with water-soluble coatings; edible films that can be consumed with the product, or by animal and insect life; plastics which can be degen- erated under ultraviolet light; glass containers which dissolve in water after the container is broken or scratched; and packaging with multi-wall construction in which a corroding agent in the inner wall remains inactive until the container is opened. If we ask structural designers to use these materials, however, we will be sacrificing a great deal in terms of product protection, which is still the basic function of packaging. We might quicken the pace of disposa- bility, but we would also be inviting packaging- failures in the store and in the home. So I can only view most of these self-destructing materials as an exercise in marketing chaos, and the beginning of more consumer protection complaints. No Simplistic Solution: For the years ahead, I have concluded that the best and perhaps the only long-term solution for solid waste disposal is through reclamation and recycling of raw materials. There is little recogni- tion, however, that packaging represents only 13% of the total volume of solid waste, and very little of the packaging used and discarded by consumers is now being returned to industry for recycling. I do not mean to infer that the technology needed for reclamation and recycling is now generally available, or that the development of such technology is any easy matter. In fact, there are great problems to overcome in virtually every type of reprocessing of used packag- ing materials. If any really substantial progress in the recycling of packaging materials is to be made, then it must be preceded by comprehensive improvements in the collection and handling of solid waste at the community levels. And the extent of our success in this area depends upon our ability to understand and moti- vate the consumer's value judgements, leadership from government and industry, and a reordering of the economic priorities involved. COMPONENTS OF COLLECTED SOLID WASTE BY PROPORTION OF WEIGHT GLASS tiET~,A,L ~ '~ /~ GARRAOE 7% p The Price-Tag on Pollution: What's more, if the fight against pollution is to be won, most officials and ex- perts are agreed that it must be waged simultaneously on all three fronts-air, water, and solid waste. Over the next five years alone, the environmental clean- up job is expected to cost the U.S. more than 71-billion dollars in new spending-and of that total 4-billion dollars is for disposal of solid waste. Ultimately, consumers everywhere will have to foot the bill, whatever it turns out to be. And before the con- sumer can be assessed through higher taxes and higher prices, government and industry must do their thing. Build more control systems. Start more reclamation programs. Continue the research. Pass new and more laws. Try new production techniques. Recycle all that can be recycled. On and on and on, and I haven't even skimmed the surface of what needs to be done. Accounting for Our Actions: In all of American indus- try, we are going to be living with pollution problems, the consumer protection movement, and a proliferation of new legislative requirements from now on. We are being called on to account for our actions and our in- tentions. Further delay and wishful thinking about packaging materials that will self-destruct themselves are not acceptable in these militant, revolutionary times. I am reminded of a statement by Alfred North Whitehead to this effect: "The major advances in civili- zation are processes which all but wreck the society in which they occur." I do not think that industry is apt to be "wrecked" or that society will be either. I can see, however, that industry may soon have to conduct its affairs under new legislative guidelines, and that this is already happening. I can see that there may soon be more tax penalties than tax incentives, and that this also is already happening. I can see that leadership and envi- ronmental protection from industry, and by industry, is needed more than ever, and that this is happening all too slowly. "Mr. Murtha is the president of Sandgren & Murtha, Inc., industrial designers and marketing consultants, and a member of AHF's Board of T-ustees. ~