"When we [began using recycled] polyethylene, our supplier was a trucking company that started by recycling batteries before it began collecting milk bottles and a stream of black plastic," recalls the vice president of package development for Aveda, a division of New York, NY-based cosmetics maker Estée Lauder.
"They were saying in order to be competitive and to make a market for their recycled material, they actually sold at a discount or close to the same price as virgin PE," Delfausse says. "They’re able to do that because they’re a trucking company. Instead of bringing trucks back empty, they’re bringing them back with recycled bottles now. So we can buy the resin at a discount, or for about the same price [as virgin resin]."
