September 16, 2008
Editorial
Want green? Put deposit on beverage containers
Last month The Register-Mail published a special section on Living Green. We highlighted local efforts to be more environmentally friendly. Stories explained what materials are recyclable and how recycling works around here. Officials noted that recycling has grown, though participation in the city’s curbside program has plateaued at about 63 percent.
It’s nice to think that by recycling we’re sparing some landfill space, thus putting off the costly process of closing one “cell” and opening another. That saves taxpayer dollars. In the direct payoff category is the city of Galesburg’s random recycling prize each month. One address is randomly selected each month for a $25 prize if the residents put a recycling bin out the week the lottery is conducted. Still, more needs to be done to encourage recycling.
One step in the right direction is a return to the container deposit of yore. That’s right, pay an extra nickel or dime per bottle/can of cool liquid refreshment and get your money back when you return the empty.
That’s the way it used to be done, if you’ll recall, in the days before easily disposable (and recyclable) steel and aluminum cans and the now ubiquitous plastic bottle. A handful of states have seen the light and enacted container deposit laws, or “bottle bills” as they’re also known. The results are encouraging.
According to a 2002 report titled “Understanding Beverage Container Recycling: A Value Chain Assessment,” deposit states saw a greater recovery rate for beverage containers — more than 71 percent, compared to about 28 percent in non-deposit states. Michigan, for example has a redemption rate of nearly 100 percent; it also has the highest container deposit. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources estimated that in 1990 the state’s bottle bill was reducing the state’s solid waste by 6 to 8 percent annually.
Our neighbor Iowa is another bottle bill state. According to the Web site bottlebill.org, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in 1995 estimated 50,000 tons of cans and bottles were redeemed and recycled through the bottle bill. That represented 5 percent of the 1 million tons of waste diverted from the waste stream in 1995.
Bottle bills not only encourage recycling, they discourage littering. Oregon was the first state to enact a bottle bill in 1971. By 1986 there were 10. Bottlebill.org notes that seven of those states reported a reduction of beverage container litter ranging from 70 to 83 percent, and a reduction in total litter ranging from 30 to 47 percent after implementation of the bottle bill.
As an alternative to the deposit law, Chicago added a nickel tax to bottled water this year in hopes of curbing the flow of plastic bottles. Time will tell if it has an impact — if it survives legal challenges. It already is clear, however, that bottle bills work. Illinois should join the 11 states that already have seen the green and pass one of its own.
http://www.galesburg.com/opinions/x229585559/Want-green-Put-deposit-on-beverage-containers
