February 2, 2006
Bottle bill gains support, but still has a way to go
Kris Wise
Supporters of the state's proposed "bottle bill" say it hearkens to a time when people recycled and reused without even thinking about it, turning in glass milk bottles and getting refills instead of generating more trash.
Critics of the measure call it an outdated throwback to a time that has long passed.
Lawmakers seem to be getting serious about a proposed bill that would hike the price of bottled beverages 10 cents throughout the state. Consumers could then redeem the containers at recycling centers and get 10 cents back for each one, and redemption centers would get 3 cents per container back from the state as a handling fee.
It's a bill that's been circulating through the Legislature for several years with only lukewarm support.
But it now seems to be gaining steam among lawmakers, while the business community and even some environmental groups are outraged over what they say amounts to a regressive tax.
Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, has been an ardent supporter of the bill since it was introduced several years ago. He said he doesn't expect the bill to pass this year, either, but hopes this legislative session will result in some changes that eventually will be acceptable to everybody.
"This isn't going to go away," McCabe said today. "We have more traction each year. We're pushing really hard right now and eventually we'll make it work. It has some rough edges, but we're trying to smooth them out and make it more effective."
Eleven states in the nation have some sort of bottle bill. Legislators here said they've modeled their proposal most closely to Michigan's, which also has a 10-cent surcharge on all beverage containers except those for milk and certain types of alcohol.
The rate -- and the 13-cent redemption fee -- is the highest in the country.
"The money part of it just isn't going to work," said Kevin Dietly, a consultant with Northbridge Environmental Management in Massachusetts. "The state is counting on a low redemption rate, and the problem is they aren't anticipating people from Kentucky and Ohio and Pennsylvania who will flock here to get $1.20 back on a 12-pack of Coke. States that have this, there's a lot of fraud and it draws a lot of money out of the system."
Jan Vineyard, executive director of the West Virginia Oil Marketers and Grocers Association, said the container fee would make stores in the state's border counties uncompetitive compared to stores in neighboring states that don't have the redemption program.
"If you can pay 10 cents less per bottle right across the river, people are going to drive across the bridge," Vineyard said this week after the bottle bill was hotly debated in a judiciary subcommittee meeting.
Opponents of the bill said the new charge and redemption program wouldn't achieve the goal lawmakers desire, to cut down on litter and bolster recycling programs around the state.
"Beverage containers are such a small part of the problem," said Dietly, who is helping lobby for the West Virginia Beverage Association. "It's going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to take care of 9 percent of the litter problem, and then you've still got to pay for litter control programs to clean up the rest."
McCabe acknowledges lawmakers have a lot of clean up to do when it comes to the bill.
"The effect on border counties is an issue, and we're still struggling to find an answer," he said. "But when you think of West Virginia, you think of the environment, of the mountains and the streams. People throwing out bottles and containers is becoming an increasing problem, and an some point we all need to come together and acknowledge it's important."
The bill, as it's written now, would put the 10-cent charge on all metal, glass, paper or plastic beverage containers excluding milk and certain types of alcohol. Stores would collect the money and turn it over to the state once a month.
Stores also could sign up, like established recycling centers, to be a redemption center. They would then be eligible to collect containers and hand out 10-cent refunds, turn containers over to the state and collect the three-cent-per-container handling fee.
The bill now is backed by McCabe, Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, and Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, and still is being studied by a judiciary subcommittee.
