April 11, 2007
Panel backs deposits on water, juice
By Brian Lockhart
HARTFORD - With support from several lower Fairfield County legislators, the General Assembly's Finance Committee yesterday passed a bill expanding bottle redemption to water and other noncarbonated drinks.
State Sen. Bill Finch, D-Bridgeport, who last month shepherded the proposal through his Environmental Committee, was pleased, but said he not confident it would pass the full House and Senate.
Finch said the "forces of darkness" still can kill the proposal, which has been discussed for years. This session, it gained the support of Gina McCarthy, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The legislature established the 5-cent deposit on beer and soda in 1980.
Concessions were made to get the bill out of the Finance Committee, including limiting the deposit to 20-ounce bottles of water, tea and juice, Finch said. The initial version included 2-liter containers.
"That eliminates a lot of midsize grapefruit juice and cranberry juice" bottles, Finch said.
The change was made after the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, which processes much of the state's municipal garbage, said it would lose $1.3 million in recycling revenue if that many noncarbonated containers were removed from curbside bins at once.
Finch said he accepted the change because the goal is to induce people not to toss travel-size containers on the ground or in the trash.
A proposal to increase the deposit to 10 cents is on hold, unless neighboring states make the first move.
Thirty-five members of the Finance Committee voted for the amended legislation yesterday after some sought to delay it for further study.
"The DEP has already extensively studied the bottle bill," said state Sen. William Nickerson, R-Greenwich. "We're not launching a new program in an unknown area. We're expanding an existing program, the parameters of which are well-known."
Nestle Waters North America, a Greenwich company that produces Poland Spring and Nestle Pure Life bottled waters, originally opposed the bill but softened to the amended version.
Bottlers have said the change would require a costly system of collecting the containers from stores or redemption centers through a third party and could lead to fraud. Only Maine, California and Hawaii have deposits on noncarbonated drinks.
The bill was altered yesterday so beverage companies can apply for corporate tax credits to offset revenue loses.
Nickerson and another Greenwich Republican, state Rep. Livvy Floren, voted in favor of the deposit. State Rep. Lile Gibbons, a third member of Greenwich's Republican delegation, was absent for the vote.
The legislation passed by the Finance Committee yesterday also increased payments to grocery stores for collecting the recyclables. The supermarket lobby, through the Connecticut Food Association, opposes the bill, saying it puts food stores in the garbage collection business and will force an increase in grocery prices.
"Places we purchase food are going to become giant dump sites," said state Rep. Ted Moukawsher, D-Groton, who voted against the bill.
State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, voted for the proposal but said he wants to amend it so municipal dumps, not grocery stores, would oversee the bottle machines.
Municipalities "are set up to collect garbage," McDonald said. "Supermarkets . . . shouldn't be used as garbage dumps."
McDonald envisions a system in which residents cash in their empties at the dump and receive credit slips to use at the grocery store.
But Finch said the existing system is more convenient because it "piggybacks on the consumer trip to the market."
McDonald's plan "wouldn't be practical," Finch said.
Other area legislators who voted in favor of the expanded bottle bill included state Reps. Christopher Perone, D-Norwalk; Carlo Leone, D-Stamford; James Shapiro, D-Stamford; and John Hetherington, R-New Canaan.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-bottle5apr11,0,3100991.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
