Nov. 7, 2005
Sheriff: Bottle-deposit bill will reduce trash
Jim Wozniak
ERWIN — When Cozy Silvers took one of his litter crews to Limestone Cove and the Martin’s Creek area of Erwin on Thursday, the group returned with a clear idea of what items people are tossing on the ground.
The bed of a pickup truck was nearly filled with 57 garbage bags, 36 of which contained beer bottles and other drink containers. Silvers, who works for the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department, said this was not atypical of what his crews collect.
“It’ll run way over half,” he said of the percentage of bottles and plastic containers. “There is more of that type of stuff than there is just ordinary trash. Just about any road you go on, way more than half will be beer bottles and beer cans and drink bottles and things like that.”
Sheriff Kent Harris is aware of the situation and believes Scenic Tennessee and some state legislators have a wise solution. Those groups have previously introduced a bill that would require people to make a 5-cent deposit when they buy beer, soda and bottled water. The money would be returned should they return the bottle or plastic container after they have consumed the beverage. If they do not, the state keeps the money.
People would return the bottles and plastic containers to a privately run recycling center, which would get a 3-cent handling fee. Scenic Tennessee said distributors would pay that fee. The recycling center would then be allowed to sell the items that the public turned in.
According to information supplied to Harris by Scenic Tennessee, the Tennessee Bottle Bill would double the money Unicoi County receives in its state litter grant and reduce trash on its roads.
Harris said the county could use the extra money to combat litter, and he agrees the amount of trash on the roadside would drop dramatically. He believes such a law would provide motivation for people to turn in their bottles and plastic containers. The sheriff said he and Erwin Mayor Brushy Lewis are going to sign a letter in support of this bill.
With the extra litter funds, Harris would be able to hire another person and give Silvers a pay raise and spend more on educational efforts.
“It disheartens me when you see these guys go out and pick up a section of the roadway and it looks so nice, and then two days later, you go back and it’s littered up again,” he said.
Many northern states have bottle deposit laws. Harris noted that some people he knows went to Maine, which is one of those states, and reported not seeing any litter.
State Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, said he favors anything that reduces trash and leads to cleaner communities but does not have a stance on this bill, which was not passed this year. The bill was not addressed in one of his committees, and he said he needs to learn more about the legislation before he decides how he would vote.
Hawk has heard bottlers, the soft drink association and owners of small stores are against the legislation. According to a recent Associated Press story, lobbyists for the beverage industry are generally opposed, arguing the laws increase the price of beverages at retail stores. They also contend the programs are expensive to start and maintain.
Silvers thinks the deposit might ease the workload on his crews. Bottles are particularly troublesome because they can be thrown a long distance, making litter pickup more time-consuming, he said. Plus, they weigh a lot, which increases Unicoi County’s disposal costs at Iris Glen Environmental Center in Johnson City.
He believes bottles and plastic containers dominate the garbage that finds its way on the ground because people who have consumed alcohol in their car do not want police to stop them and charge them with violating the state’s open container law. Because the task of cleaning up falls to his group, the law actually hurts more than it helps, he said.
