Container and Packaging
Recycling UPDATE
Summer/Fall 2001 Issue

The proposal ultimately introduced in the legislature had broad support in part because so many other segments of the waste stream had already been addressed through public and private recycling, composting and waste reduction initiatives.

Honolulu City and County focused in the 1990's on the commercial waste stream initially. Restaurants, bars, hotels and many other businesses have well established recycling programs. Turning to the beverage waste problem seemed a logical next step.

"It's their turn," Jones said, referring to the beverage industry waste problem. Refundable deposits are seen as the best means to increase recycling of the estimated 880 million bottles and cans sold in the state last year.

Drop-off systems already in place capture an estimated 20 percent of bottles and cans, according to the City and County of Honolulu.

States with bottle bills typically achieve an 80 percent recycling rate, proponents told legislators.

Legislative Process

Representative Morita is a soft-spoken, determined legislator, who says "there was a core of support" for the bottle bill at the start of the year. She credits solid waste management officials and students with providing encouragement to pursue the issue.

Early in the process, it appeared that her bill might die in one house committee. But with evidence of a continuing dialogue between supporters and opponents, the bottle bill survived.

Morita leads the House Delegation on the conference committee. She described the key issue in the bottle bill debate in an interview with CRI.

"Bottom line, you either pay as a consumer or as a taxpayer," Rep. Morita said. "We live on islands. We only have so much land."

The Oahu landfill only has 18 months of capacity remaining she said.

As initially introduced, Morita's bill required a 5-cent deposit on containers 24 ounces or smaller, and 15 cents on larger containers. The amount of the deposit is one of the issues to be resolved in conference committee.

Opponents of Morita's bottle bill legislation are led by the food and beverage industry. Their general attitude was summed up by Richard Botti of the Food Industry Association as "anything but the bottle bill."

Sources tell CRI that these industry groups were caught off-guard and a rift developed between food and beverage groups. The Food Industry Association proposed a one-half cent advanced disposal fee, which Botti says would generate $5 million a year.

Beverage industry opponents pushed for a study of 'comprehensive approaches' to solid waste, a tactic often employed in other state bottle bill battles. Pepsi General Manger Gary Yoshioka is overseeing the industry funded study by Cascadia.

In the end, bottle bill opponents succeeded in delaying final passage of the Morita bill in order to develop an industry alternative. The senate changes forced Morita's bill to a house and senate conference committee.

The Container Recycling Institute was invited to provide expert testimony on the Morita bill in both the house and senate. CRI Executive Director Pat Franklin urged legislators to look closely at the facts, which show states with deposit laws typically have recycling rates that are 2 or 3 times higher than non-deposit states. CRI also pointed out that many of the potential problems often cited by opponents of bottle bills have not been serious problems.

Bottle Bill is Elementary to Recycling, Students Say

Support for the bottle bill is elementary, at least that is the message from 5th and 6th grade students in Hawaii.

Kimberly Mokuau, a sixth grade student at Kualapuu School, appeared before the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to support the bottle bill. In a detailed statement, she addressed the main arguments used by opponents.

"I think recycling is everbody's responsibility. The person who buys the beverage should be responsible that the container doesn't end up in the landfill, and the beverage industry should support the programs that provide incentives to the consumer to act responsibly," Kimberly Mokuau said.

While the fight for a bottle bill in Hawaii is still far from over, Representative Morita's bill moved farther and faster than any legislation proposed in the last 15 years anywhere in the United States.