Enormous growth in plastic packaging is outpacing state's ability to recycle.

Chip Lavigne ought to be a booster of plastic packaging.

As a sales manager for recycling firm Allan Co., he watches tons of plastic goods come in each day from curbside recycling programs in L.A. and other local cities.

But at the end of each day, several truckloads of unusable materials are loaded up at its Sun Valley facility and sent to the dump. Some is plastic rejected because it is contaminated with food. Other items are turned away because there is no market for them.

His pet peeve: rigid plastic, individual-sized snack food containers.

"That's the thing that turns my skin - potato chips in a plastic bottle so they don't break," said Lavigne, who has kept the same water bottle on his desk for months. "People throw those things away like they are nothing."

Lavigne has a firsthand view of a problem that government officials have only recently begun to notice.

Despite a steady increase in recycling volumes over the past decade, the use of plastic packaging is mushrooming at a much faster rate as advances in plastics technology have lowered costs and met consumers' desire for cheap, safe packaging and convenience.

Some of the excess is flowing into landfills, which are quickly filling up in California and elsewhere. It's also exacerbating a litter problem because a plastic item thrown on the ground won't decompose, like a paper product often will within 30 days.

"Plastics is just sort of taking over," said Calvin Young, a market development specialist for the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Plastic inundation 

Baldwin Park-based Allan serves three of L.A.'s five recycling districts, along with Santa Monica and other cities. Over his 14 years with the company, Lavigne has witnessed a virtual explosion of disposable consumer products and packaging -- everything from children's juice cartons to microwave trays to plastic wrap.

Total plastic production in the United States has increased eight-fold since 1970, to about 24 million tons in 1999, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Meanwhile, the amount of plastics recycled has grown at a far slower pace, with fewer than 2 million tons recovered by 1999, the last year for which the data is available.

In California, nearly every category of plastics disposed increased between 1990 and 1999, despite a massive recycling campaign. By weight, plastics made up 8.9 percent of the state's trash in 1999, compared with 6.9 percent in 1990, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board. (By volume, the number is much higher for the lightweight material, 17.8 percent.)

More recent data indicates that the trend has only increased. From 1999 to 2001, for example, the number of PET containers sold in the state tripled, according to the board. PET is a type of plastic that commonly made into water or soda bottles.

Various pieces of legislation have been introduced that would increase the deposit on plastic bottles, slap fees on every plastic bag sold and encourage development of biodegradable plastic -- though some of it has run into industry opposition.

Last week, after two years of study, the waste management board, which oversees trash disposal and recycling, acknowledged that the state has no effective policy for dealing with the explosion of plastic use.

Serves a purpose

Solving the problem won't be easy, given the advantages that plastic packaging offers.

Even Trader Joe's, the South Pasadena-based supermarket chain that has a reputation for being progressive, is addicted to plastic.

Its stores use paper sacks rather than plastic bags, and it offers cloth grocery sacks for sale that can be reused by patrons. But when it comes to produce, the store pre-packages everything in either rigid or soft plastic.

Company spokeswoman Pat St. John said the packaging is cheap and protects the food, lowering cost. And given the stores' smaller size, they don't have room for the large produce displays at standard supermarkets.

At Baja Fresh, the Thousand Oaks-based Mexican fast food chain recently purchased by Wendy's International Inc., meals are served in rigid plastic plates. If taken out, a rigid plastic top is added, along with a plastic bag.

Gene Cameron, Baja Fresh's vice president of marketing, said the company is studying how to reduce the trash its packaging creates, but so far has not come up with a solution. "We need to have a good sturdy plate for our enchiladas," he said. "It's a tough one."

Single-use water bottles are among the highest profile examples of the problem. While the bottles, were added a few years ago to the list of beverage containers for which consumers are charged deposits, it has not had the desired effect of encouraging recycling. Just 16 percent of the bottles consumed by Californians every year are recycled. One billion are thrown away, prompting the state to launch a campaign last month to raise consumer awareness.

At least there are markets for recycled PET plastic bottles and for HDPE, commonly used for milk. Other plastic packaging, such as microwave trays, often has little value. Plastic wrap is especially problematic.

"There is a limited market for it. It is being made into thongs in China, but it is usually so contaminated it's hopeless," said Tom Grady, Glendale's recycling coordinator.

No easy answers

Environmentalists say that consumers, retailers and the plastics industry are failing to pay the full societal costs generated by the plastic trash.

"The folks that are doing the over-packaging are not paying the economic consequences of that packaging," said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. "The packaging is driven by marketing, not necessity."

The group is calling for legislation that would place fees on plastic production and consumption in an effort to reduce use and encourage recycling.

In that vein, Sen. Byron Sher, D-San Jose, has introduced a bill that would double the deposit fee on water bottles to increase consumer awareness. But it has run into opposition from the plastics industry.

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, introduced a bill specifically sponsored by the waste group that would slap a two-cent fee on every disposable bag and cup used by supermarkets and other retailers.

Among opponents of the Koretz bill is the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic resin and packaging manufacturers. Tim Shestek, its California lobbyist, agrees there is a problem but thinks it can be best addressed gradually without additional fees. "We think we should start with bottles and work our way to other avenues of packaging," he said.

Another opponent is Allied Plastics Inc., a manufacturer of plastic packaging in Bell. Owner Thomas MacMillan said he has mixed feelings.

"The people that manufacture these things have kids and understand there are environmental issues that need to be addressed," he conceded. "But for convenience and a disposable society, plastic has made a lot more sense than paper."

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