Container and Packaging Recycling Update - Volume XV No. 1 - Spring 2007
State Updates
Connecticut : Two joint committees vote
overwhelmingly to send updated bottle bill to
full senate for a vote
HARTFORD — The proposal to update Connecticut ’s 28-year-old container deposit law to include non-carbonated beverages was voted out of the Joint Environment Committee on March 21 by a vote of 22 - 8, with one recusal. After a 35-15 vote in the Finance Committee on April 3rd, the bill is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate. The proposal allows manufacturers to be “deposit initiators” so deposits paid to them on unredeemed containers will help offset redemption costs. It also raises the handling fees that distributors must pay redemption centers and retailers to three cents, a much-needed increase that hasn’t been updated since 1985.
SB 1289 now moves to the Senate for a floor vote.
CRI’s executive director, Pat Franklin, provided favorable testimony at the public hearing in Hartford on February 28th that included compelling new data on the explosion of bottled water consumption in Connecticut. Franklin was also a featured speaker at a public forum on the bottle bill hosted by the Environment Committee Co-chairs. At the forum she presented a new power point presentation entitled “ Updating the Bottle Bill ” that complements CRI’s recent publication, “ Water, Water Everywhere.”
Editorial support for updating the bottle bill has been strong, including an endorsement from the New York Times. The state’s major newspaper, The Hartford Courant , editorialized in favor of expanding the bottle bill four times since January. Momentum is strong this year and Better Bottle Bill Coalition members and other bottle bill activists in Connecticut are encouraging citizens to contact their state senators and representatives to urge them to support SB 1289.
For more information, please contact Jessie Stratton,
jessiestratton@sbcglobal.net
Iowa : Redemption centers
seek
higher handling fee
DES MOINES — After years of fighting an uphill battle with a Republican majority in the House and Senate, redemption center owners were hopeful this year would be different with a shift to Democratic control along with a newly elected Democratic governor.
Rep. Donovan Olson (D - Boone County), chair of the Environmental Protection Committee, appointed a sub-committee headed by Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D - Story County) to look at HF164 and make recommendations on a final bill to the full committee. After holding several meetings and hearing testimony from all sides an amended bill (HF800) was passed unanimously out of committee by a vote of 20-0, making it eligible for full House debate.
The bill includes language that requires distributors to report their sales and redemption numbers to the state to evaluate and determine the redemption rate, establishes a task force to continue the discussions on how to make the law stronger and identify ways to increase recycling rates and increase income for redemption centers, and allows redemption centers as a group to negotiate their handling fees with the distributors.
It is uncertain whether the bill will be debated by the full House. If it is passed it would still need to be reworked by the Senate before the distributors or redemption center owners would consider the bill a success.
Troy Willard is CEO of The Can Shed, LLC, Troyw@canshed.com
North Carolina : Bill would require
10¢ deposit on all beverage containers
RALEIGH—The Litter Reduction Act of 2007 (SB 215) introduced by Sen. Doug Berger (D, Franklin County), is intended to significantly reduce the growing amounts of litter on NC roads and waterways by placing a 10¢ deposit on all beverage containers sold in the state. SB 215 has been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee where its fate rests in the hands of 26 senators.
Under the Act, distributors will collect the deposits from retailers, and submit funds, less one percent for administrative costs, to the Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR.) Redemption centers will redeem all deposit beverage containers and DENR will reimburse certified redemption centers, non-profit drop-off centers, and curbside programs from the Beverage Container Litter Reduction Account, which will be funded by the unredeemed beverage container deposits.
Unredeemed balances will be used for litter abatement and recycling activities or grants, education, and promotion, for incentive payments and public education programs directed at reducing litter. No taxpayer appropriation is required.
The Act was a feature newscast on WRAL TV (Raleigh) and favorable editorials have been published in major newspapers, but it will be a tough uphill battle.
Unless strong grassroots public support develops soon, the key senators will be swayed by the opposition lobbyists, who are already mounting a negative campaign. We are optimistic and hopeful that NC citizens will rally behind this Act and write letters of support to the Commerce Committee senators, who must be convinced if we are to succeed.
Wyatt L. McGhee is Chair of the Franklin County Solid Waste Education Task Force 919.494.7361
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