May 22, 2007
Recycle Expanded Bottle Bill
If ever there was a cause worthy of recycling, this one is it.
On May 17, the legislature's general law committee killed a proposed expansion of the bottle-deposit law to non-carbonated beverages. Too bad; in so doing, committee members placed the commercial interests of a relative few in the bottling industry above the best interests of Connecticut.
Fortunately, proponents of the expanded bottle law aren't giving up. They intend to do an end-run around the committee by amending another bill.
The popularity of noncarbonated beverages - juice, water and sports drinks - has soared. Between 2002 and 2005, according to the Connecticut Recycling Institute, the number of water bottles sold in Connecticut more than doubled.
Yet the current bottle law only addresses containers for carbonated beverages. And so, increasingly, noncarbonated beverage bottles - made of glass, aluminum or PET plastic - have ended up as flotsam on our roadways, parks and other recreational areas.
Besides being an eyesore, these containers represent a waste of energy and resources.
Since it was enacted three decades ago, Connecticut's bottle law has done an exemplary job. Its central and proven strategy is that, while people may be willing to throw worthless containers out a window, they won't throw away money.
This legislation builds on that success. It would require consumers to put down a 5-cent refundable deposit on glass, aluminum and recyclable plastic containers for noncarbonated, nonalcoholic or nondairy beverages. It's also fair; offering grocers and redemption centers a 50 percent increase in their handling fee, from 2 cents to 3 cents per bottle.
Opponents of the bill, including the general law committee's co-chairman, state Rep. Chris Stone (whose East Hartford district includes a bottling plant), claims it posed a burden on retailers. An additional burden, maybe, but one the industry ought to assume.
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-bottle.artmay22,0,3531308.story?coll=hc-headlines-editorials
