March 1, 2007
Some find bottle-deposit plan hard to swallow
Gregory B. Hladky
HARTFORD — Connecticut’s annual battle over expanding its bottle deposit law to plastic water containers, and raising all deposits from 5 cents to 10 cents, was bubbling over again Wednesday.
A legislative hearing on the issue brought out droves of environmentalists arguing for the expansion, and legions of soft-drink industry lobbyists warning of dire business consequences of such a bill.
Key legislative leaders in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly said the measure appears to have more support than last year, when it won state Senate approval only to die in the House without a vote.
"It may pass this year," said state House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, who admits his wife "hates the bill" because of the extra hassles it would require to redeem plastic water bottles.
"I think there is broad-based (legislative) support for things people believe will be effective conservation measures," said state Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven.
But Looney said there are still major questions about how effective the proposed bottle bill expansion would be and whether the public is ready for a 5-cent boost in deposits for beer, soda and water bottles.
"I think its chances have improved," said state Rep. Mary M. Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, one of the measure’s strongest supporters. She said she believes this new bill "is more finely tuned ... and more flexible."
This year’s version would delay increasing Connecticut’s bottle deposit to 10 cents until New York and Massachusetts did the same, to avoid a flood of bottles moving to a higher-deposit state.
Another provision would allow creation of municipal redemption centers to be funded by some of the unredeemed bottle deposit money, a scheme designed to take some redemption pressure off supermarkets.
But there is a high-powered lobbying campaign being waged against the bill by the "Connecticut No Water Tax Association," a coalition of 12 different industry associations and companies.
Industry officials warn food stores could be inundated with massive quantities of additional bottles from different sources. Carrie Rand-Anastasiades, of the Connecticut Food Association, warned food stores already "redeem 2½ times the amount of what they sell."
Brian Flaherty, a spokesman for Nestle Waters, warned that placing deposits on water bottles would create enormous strains on his company and cost consumers far more than an improved curbside recycling system. "We think $5 million to $10 million a year (in added expenses for the company) is our conservative estimate," Flaherty said.
Environmentalists insist plastic water and non-carbonated drink bottles are far more of a litter and waste problem today than when the original law took effect in 1980.
They also argue that, while the 5-cent deposit has been successful in reducing litter and encouraging recycling, that nickel doesn’t offer much of an incentive any more.
Pat Franklin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute, testified that plastic water bottles played virtually no role in the beverage market in the 1970s. But she said by 1979, water’s market share had increased to 14 percent and rose to 27 percent as of 2005.
In Connecticut, there were an estimated 400 million plastic water bottles sold in 2005. "We are currently throwing away 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles," Franklin said.
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17914423&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=31007&rfi=6
