October 2, 2007
Bottle bill foe explains opposition
It costs too much, does too little
By Mannix Porterfield
Imposing a bottle bill in West Virginia would only invite the same kind of fraud that has plagued deposit-law states and make life tough on consumers and retailers alike, an industry lobbyist says.
Kevin Dietly, a principal for Northbridge Environmental, a Westford, Mass., firm that has been around since 1933, appeared at the West Virginia Capitol last winter to work against a proposed 10-cent deposit on all beverage containers.
And if a fresh one arises, as the West Virginia Citizens Action Group intends, Dietly likely will return to represent the industry in its opposition.
“In general, the problem I have with bottle bills is that they cost too much and do too little,” he said Monday in a telephone interview.
“It cost consumers and businesses an awful lot of money to handle beverage containers one at a time. They could be handled much more efficiently in bulk in community recycling centers.”
Recycling centers that are specified in the West Virginia proposal would run parallel to existing community facilities, creating many problems.
“With two systems comes a lot of inefficiency,” Dietly said.
Curbside and dropoff facilities already in place can mesh with private recyclers, but to then attach a 10-cent deposit on containers forces consumers to use a government-run recycling center for citizens to be reimbursed if they recycle at home.
“You have to make your way to these redemption centers that are supposed to spring up around the state,” Dietly said.
“That means somebody needs to operate these redemption centers and get paid for it.”
Which means the government is competing with private industry and trucks are running to new centers, he said.
“So you’ve created a parallel recycling system that only handles a tiny fraction of the waste,” Dietly said.
Fraud could be rampant and easily done, he said.
A consumer could buy a 24-can case of beverages for $2.40 less in Ohio, then take the empties to a West Virginia recycling center and collect.
Proponents say cans and other containers can be coded for deposit states, but Dietly says this is impractical, since the beverages are produced in other states.
“Coke bottles probably a couple of million cases and let’s say they’re going to sell some to Wal-Mart,” he said. “Do they ask Wal-Mart, ‘how many of these cases do you want for West Virginia in advance?’ Wal-Mart would look at them and say, ‘I think we’ll go to Pepsi.’ You can’t track products like that. It’s really pretty impractical, which means you get the fraud.”
Dietly pointed to a bust last month in Detroit involving the arrest of 13 people and the seizure of more than $500,000 in cash after authorities smashed a smuggling ring that rounded up millions of used containers illegally cashed in for 10 cents apiece.
And apparently such deception isn’t an isolated incident, for Michigan’s state police director, Col. Peter Munoz, put the annual loss to his state’s economy at some $13 million.
“That happens all the time in deposit states,” Dietly said. “It’s a regular occurrence.”
For any coding system to work, he said, every can must carry a sticker.
“Who’s going to buy a 12-pack that’s opened already?” he asked. “Or a case of beer opened already? Who’s going to pay to put the stickers on? Is it really worth it? How much is it worth to get a part of the litter problem? It’s (container trash) in the single digits.”
Opponents of such legislation in West Virginia run from Coca-Cola to Anheuser-Busch to two locals of Teamsters International to the West Virginia Oil Marketers and Grocers Association.
Proponents assert a bottle bill would rid the highways of between 40 percent and 60 percent of the refuse, but Dietly said this is based on an informal survey pro-bottle bill forces made while picking up litter on a country road in Kentucky, while a sophisticated survey puts the national average at 7.4 percent.
“Most of the litter is what you think it would be — fast-foot packages, bags, napkins, coffee cups,” he said.
“Litter is a problem that has to do with rude people misbehaving. It’s a behavioral problem.
“Obviously, the best way to deal with the problem is to change behavior of people and not just focus on 7 percent of the problem. “
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