DRINK-BOX MAKERS ACCUSED OF FALSE CLAIMS

The city's consumer affairs watchdog said Sunday the country's two largest makers of soft drink boxes are falsely claiming their products are recyclable and urged them to ``clean up your act.'' New York's commissioner of consumer affairs said the boxes put out by Combibloc of Columbus, Ohio, and Tetra Pak of Shelton, Conn., are exploiting the concerns of environmentally conscious shoppers. The two companies make almost all the soft-drink boxes sold in the country, he said.

He called it ``false to advertise that these cartons are `as easy to recycle as your daily newspaper.' '' The two companies have been ordered to appear in court Dec. 18 and been asked to stop running the ads or face $500 fines.