CRI Newsletter
July 2011
Welcome to the Container Recycling Institute's newsletter. This issue, we'd like to share with you a few stories of this year's legislative victories regarding deposit-refund systems.
The past few months have seen high levels of container-deposit activity. In Oregon, the nation's oldest deposit law was made even more effective; lawmakers in Maine, Vermont and Iowa all voted down bills that would have repealed or significantly weakened their long-standing container deposit laws; and three NEW container deposit laws went into effect in Turks and Caicos (April 2011), the Northern Territory of Australia (February 2011) and Guam (December 2010).
Be sure to watch bottlebill.org as we add pages for these and other new programs, including Croatia (2005) and Estonia (2005).
Stories from a selection of states are below. For information on other bills introduced this year, see www.bottlebill.org/legislation/campaigns.htm
Oregon's Container Deposit Law Expands Again
In another victory for refund advocates, Oregon has expanded its deposit to include an even wider array of beverages. Under this latest expansion, which Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law on June 10. energy drinks, juices and teas will be added to the program no later than 2018, leaving only wine, liquor and milk not covered by a deposit. The law also has a provision to increase the deposit to ten cents, if the recycling rate falls below 80% for two years in a row.
Non-carbonated beverages are now covered by the laws in six states: California, Hawaii, Oregon, Maine, Connecticut and New York. Massachusetts is pushing for expansion this year, and an expansion bill was also introduced in Vermont (see below.)
Maine Legislature's Environmental Committee Unanimously Affirms State's Container Deposit Law
A number of bills that would have rolled back portions of Maine's popular deposit law were introduced this session, including proposals to exempt containers over 28 ounces and to remove the deposit from wine and spirits. Prior to a key legislative hearing, CRI Executive Director Susan Collins spent a day in Augusta discussing with legislators the importance of their deposit law. Maine's program achieves a recycling rate of 90%, and because it covers virtually all beverage types except dairy, it recycles more beverage containers per capita than any other state in the U.S.
After considering these facts and hearing a full day of testimony from citizens across the state, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted down all of the detrimental bills.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) led the effort to protect the state's bottle bill. "We are pleased that the Environment Committee voted to uphold Maine's most successful recycling program: The Bottle Bill," said NRCM Clean Production Director, Matt Prindiville.
"The committee did the right thing by voting to preserve Maine's Bottle Bill, which saves Maine taxpayers money, keeps litter from our roadsides, and encourages high recycling rates for our beverage containers."
Vermont
For the last several years, beverage companies have been working on legislation that would repeal Vermont's deposit system and replace it with industry-supported curbside recycling. Fortunately, the provisions for repealing the deposit law were removed from the bill before it was even introduced, leaving only the requirement that printed materials and packaging sold in Vermont be covered by an extended-producer responsibility (EPR) program approved by the Agency of Natural Resources. The bill, H.218, has not been acted on since its referral to the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. According to Charity Carbine of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, VPIRG, "While we succeeded in fending off the industry attack, we also know that the beverage industry will persist in their efforts to undermine the program."
VPIRG has also introduced an expansion bill that would add water, tea, energy drinks and juices to the state's container deposit program.
Iowa
Another effort to replace a refund law with a "universal recycling" system - as was done in Delaware last year - failed in Iowa in early March. CRI worked with the Iowa Recycling Association and the state's network of private redemption centers to defend the law; CRI also provided an Iowa-specific version of its "Recycling and Climate Change" report. In the end, the repeal bill, along with a repeal study bill and a bill to reduce the refund value, failed to gain committee approval before a legislative deadline.
Massachusetts
MassPIRG and the Sierra Club of Massachusetts continue working hard to get an expansion bill passed in the Bay State this year. A poll conducted by MassInc shows more than 77% support for the expansion, more than half of the state's cities and towns have passed a resolution in favor of adding non-carbonated beverages, and 81 legislators have signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors! A hearing is scheduled for July 20, 2011.