Simple concept:
W.Va. could take lead with first bottle bill in region
Opinion
Linda Frame
The time is now for the West Virginia Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Control Act, or “bottle bill.” City councils, county commissions, farmers, environmental organizations and Adopt-A-Highway volunteers across the state think so and The Charleston Gazette recently included the bottle bill on its list of priorities for this year’s legislative session.
A bottle bill would put a fully refundable 10-cent deposit on beverage containers sold in West Virginia. The 11 existing bottle bill states, which recycle more than the other 39 combined, enjoy a reduction of up to 80 percent of their beverage container litter. A fully refundable 10-cent deposit puts a value on empty containers and provides a strong incentive against littering. If someone still decides to turn his beverage container into litter, the person who takes the trouble to pick it up can redeem it. What a simple concept, and one that we already had in our state back when most drinks came in glass bottles.
Why a 10-cent deposit? Many of today’s existing bottle bills were passed in the 1970s and ’80s and put a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers (Michigan is the exception at 10 cents). We propose following Michigan’s example. Five cents isn’t what it used to be and a 10-cent deposit would help ensure a higher level of recycling for years to come.
The beverage and convenience store industries, which oppose the bottle bill, claim that beverage containers make up just 8 percent of our litter problem. In fact, bottle bills in other states have reduced overall litter between 40 percent and 60 percent. Something doesn’t add up. A bottle bill would also create jobs and foster economic development. After all, tourists and businesses alike prefer to invest in a state that takes pride in itself, instead of allowing its vistas, highways and rivers to become clogged with litter. And ask any Adopt-A-Highway volunteer, the people who actually do litter cleanups, about the 8 percent figure and chances are they’ll give you another opinion on how much beverage container litter is out there.
These same industries say that bottle bills are inconvenient and will drive business across our borders. In fact, bottle bills have been effective in other states for more than 35 years and no statewide bottle bill has ever been repealed. Why? They have huge popularity with voters, they work at cleaning up litter and increasing recycling and, even though every existing bottle bill state is bordered by a non-bottle bill state, none has seen its beverage industry go belly-up because of people flocking across the border to buy their six-packs.
West Virginia has the chance to take the lead in Appalachia by passing the first bottle bill in this region. Once we have a bill here, other states on our borders can follow our lead. Many of our forward-thinking state senators and delegates, regardless of their district location or party affiliation, have signed on as sponsors of this legislation.
We hope all of West Virginia’s legislators have a chance to vote for the West Virginia Beverage Container and Litter Control Act this session and that they decide to endorse the bottle bill, a vote for our rivers, communities, highways and cleanup volunteers. Citizens need to ask legislators where they stand on the bottle bill — for the volunteers who pick up after litterbugs, or for the apparently pro-litter industries that prefer the status quo.
Frame is program manager for the West Virginia-Citizen Action Group, www.wvcag.org.
http://wvgazette.com/section/Opinion/2007012112
