Updated Bottle Bill Heads to November Ballot in Massachusetts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 7th, 2014
Contact: Susan V. Collins
Phone: (310) 559-7451
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Updated Bottle Bill Heads to November Ballot in Massachusetts
Legislature misses deadline to act
On July 3rd, a large group gathered on the steps of the Secretary of State’s office to announce completion of an initiative petition signature drive to update the state’s bottle bill. Proponents delivered over 19,000 signatures Wednesday to Secretary Galvin’s office. Once the signatures are validated by Secretary Galvin, the measure is certified to appear before the voters on November 4. If passed, the ballot question would extend the current nickel deposit on soda and beer to other single serving containers like water, juices, and sports drinks.
“This is common sense policy that updates a tremendously effective law,” said Rep. Jon Hecht, (D-Watertown) the lead sponsor, along with Sen. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), of the measure in the Legislature.
“The people of Massachusetts have spoken loud and clear, over a number of years, that they want less litter and more recycling; they want the Updated Bottle Bill. In the World Cup of legislation, our elected officials let this goal go right through their legs. We did our best to work through Beacon Hill, now it’s up to the voters, “said Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG.
An update to the bottle bill has been pending in the state legislature for over 12 years; the original version passed in 1983, before the popularity of bottled water and tea. Although enough legislators support the update to make it law, it has never been brought to a vote in the House, despite passing the Senate during the last two legislative sessions. Opponents to the bill have largely been big business interests include bottlers, supermarkets.
Diverse groups across the state have gathered the needed signatures to put the measure before the voters -- over 130,000 signatures in September, nearly double the number needed, and more than the other proposed ballot measures. Signatures came from every one of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, and hundreds of volunteers participated. In May, of this year, supporters gathered 27,000 more signatures.
Among the organizations collecting signatures were MASSPIRG, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Milton Garden Club, the Environmental League of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Sierra Club.
Advocates are bracing for a tough ballot question campaign. Under state law, bottlers and supermarkets can pour unlimited corporate funds into opposing the ballot initiative.
“We’d rather see the bottlers and supermarkets do more to promote recycling, but if they decide to spend millions to defeat this recycling initiative, our volunteers are ready to get the word out to voters,” said Phil Sego of the Massachusetts Sierra Club.
Over 100 organizations, 209 cities and towns, the past two Republican and Democratic Governors, and 400 small businesses have endorsed updating the bottle bill.
“Many single serving beverages are consumed on the go, out of the reach of curbside programs. This explains why deposit soda is recycled at 80%, almost quadruple the 23% recycling rate of water bottles,” said Susan Collins, President of the Container Recycling Institute. “Updating the bottle bill is a smart idea.”
"Expanding the bottle bill will go a long way toward cleaning up our streets and parks, and will help keep the costs of municipal trash collection down by removing beverage containers from the waste stream," said Anne Borg, co-president, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts.
“Despite strong public support, big business will invest millions of dollars in this campaign to avoid responsibility for the trash they create,” said George Bachrach, President of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “This will be an uphill ‘David v. Goliath’ fight -- Mass citizens v. Corporate America.”
If the bottle bill wins in November, Massachusetts would catch up with Maine, Connecticut, New York, Hawaii, California, and Oregon, all of which have added more types of containers to their deposit laws over the past several years.
Contacts:
Janet Domenitz, MASSPIRG Executive Director: (617) 308-9109
Container Recycling Institute Issues Beverage Industry Watch
Container Recycling Institute
1911 Ft. Myer Drive, Suite 900
Arlington, Virginia 22209
703/276-9800 fax 276-9587
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 1996
CONTACT: Pat Franklin
(202) 797 - 6839
Container Recycling Institute Issues Beverage Industry Watch
WASHINGTON, DC (March 1, 1996) -- The Container Recycling Institute (CRI), a nonprofit research and education organization that studies alternatives for recovering beverage containers, issued an analysis of beverage industry promotional materials being circulated by The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) on behalf of the major soft drink companies. NSDA released figures that boast 48 billion soda cans and bottles recycled in the U.S. in 1994, out of 78 billion containers sold.
According to CRI spokesperson, Pat Franklin, there is an element of truth to NSDA's figures, but she insists that they present only one side of the recycling story and accuses NSDA of trying to put a positive spin on the hundreds of thousands of tons of waste generated by the soft drink industry each year. "It's a solid waste, " said Franklin, "and what's worse, the estimated 30 billion soda cans and bottles that end up in our landfills and on our beaches, parklands and city streets each year, represent a needless waste of energy and natural resources."
Franklin claims that the recycling rate for soft drink containers would be closer to 80 or 90% if the beverage industry instituted a deposit system to recover their cans and bottles. She says it is the high beverage container recovery rates in deposit states that are pulling up the national recycling rates for glass, aluminum and PET plastic, and that without the ten deposit states, the soft drink container recycling rate would be a lot lower than NSDA's 61% estimate. "What's so great about a 61% anyway?" she continued, "61% was an "F" when I was in school."
Franklin says Coke and Pepsi discredit the deposit system because it forces them to assume responsibility for their waste. "The soft drink companies promote curbside recycling," she said, "because those programs are funded with taxpayer dollars." She acknowledges that curbside recycling programs deserve some credit for beverage container recovery, but points out that the number of people served by curbside recycling in the U.S. increased by 175% between 1990 and 1994, and NSDA's figures show that the soft drink container recycling rate increased by less than 30% during that same period.
Pointing to the fact that the leading soft drink franchisers, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, hold 75% of the soft drink market, Franklin says one could assume that an estimated 20 billion Coke and Pepsi cans and bottles are burned, buried or littered every year in the US "That's about 60 million a day, over 2 million each hour, 40,000 every minute that are NOT recycled," she said.
Franklin says the public should challenge the soft drink giants to take responsibility for their packaging and acknowledge deposit systems as credible and highly successful programs for recovering soft drink containers, or explain why they won't .
"When you cut through all the promotional hoopla about increased recycling rates," said Franklin, "the bottom line is that we are not reducing, by much, the quantity of soda cans and bottles being trashed each year." She points to the fact that based on NSDA's own figures, American's threw away more soda cans and bottles in 1994 than in 1992. "We seem to be getting nowhere fast," she concluded.
# # #
CRI Announces New Membership Structure and Webinar Schedule
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOS ANGELES – August 20, 2012 – The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) will begin offering annual membership to its supporters beginning this month. A variety of levels and benefit options will allow stakeholders in the recycling, recycled products and packaging industries to meet their specific needs for up-to-date industry information, technical assistance and network access.
“This new structure gives our supporters a greater range of engagement options as well as increased opportunities for collaboration in industry, state and local government and environmental non-profit sectors,” said Susan V. Collins, President, Container Recycling Institute.
Along with this announcement, CRI is also posting its schedule of upcoming webinars. Topics covered by CRI webinars range from comparisons of different recycling programs to changes in legislation that impact how different regions dispose of and recycle waste. As a benefit of membership, organizations and individuals who join at the Associate level or higher will be able to register for webinars free of charge. For non-members, the cost is $59 per webinar. Upcoming CRI webinars include:
September:
Canada’s Beverage Container Recycling Programs: A Comparative Analysis
Author Clarissa Morawski will discuss trends and offer insights about different programs for beverage container recycling. The discussion will explore who bears the costs of recovery. The webinar will include program updates from the Canadian provinces. Read More
October:
Vermont’s Solid Waste Act: Big Changes Ahead
Speakers will discuss Vermont’s new measure (Act 148) to reduce landfill waste and maximize recycling and composting, which includes landfill bans, requirements for haulers and facilities, and a study of Vermont’s existing bottle bill.
California’s Beverage Container Recycling Program Reform
California’s beverage container recycling program boasts an 82 percent recycling rate, and operates more cost-efficiently than any other program in the U.S., making it a superstar among U.S. recycling programs. However, as the program has evolved, new areas for reform have been revealed. This webinar will discuss suggestions for potential improvements.
November:
EPR for Packaging Case Studies: An Update from Ontario, Canada
Ontario has two successful EPR programs for packaging: The Beer Store program and the Blue Box program for residential packaging and printed paper. This webinar highlights Ontario’s success stories and examines the challenges ahead for EPR in North America.
For more information about CRI webinars, including specific dates and speakers, please contact CRI.
Susan V. Collins, CRI President, (310) 559-7451, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Waste Counter
Add the Waste Counter to your website!
Two flavors...
| CRI Waste Counter (200px wide) | Mini Waste Counter (150px wide) |
Let your website draw attention to America's failure to recycle our bottles and cans, and help point the way to solutions to reverse the wasting trend.
- Suitable for menus, sidebars and footers!
- Easy to install!
Copy the code below and paste it onto your site!
<!-- BEGIN Container Recycling Institute's Waste Counter -->
<center>
<iframe style="overflow:hidden;" width="200" height="84" src="http://www.container-recycling.org/assets/counter/countDown.html" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
</center>
<!-- END Container Recycling Institute's Waste Counter -->
For the mini waste counter, copy this code and paste it onto your site!
<!-- BEGIN Container Recycling Institute's Mini Waste Counter -->
<center>
<iframe style="overflow:hidden;" width="150" height="64" src="http://www.container-recycling.org/assets/counter/mini.countDown.html" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
</center>
<!-- END Container Recycling Institute's Mini Waste Counter -->
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