December 3, 2008
Lawmakers to revisit landmark bottle law
Bills to crack down on deposit fraud
By the time Mike Micahnik finished feeding the bags of empty beer and pop bottles he'd hauled to the Kroger on Greenfield in Southfield into the recycling machine Sunday afternoon, he'd earned $21.60.
During these tough economic times, the 42-year-old mortgage broker planned to use that money to help cover his grocery bill, a poignant way to celebrate the anniversary of Michigan's bottle bill, the first of its kind in the United States.
"No one's going to throw money away," Micahnik said. "You pay nearly $10 for a six-pack. At least get 60 cents back."
Although 30 years have passed since it took effect on Dec. 3, 1978, the law remains a much-debated issue. There's concern about bottle bounty-hunters from outside Michigan lugging recyclables into the state for the 10-cent refund -- double what some of the other states with deposits offer -- and debate over whether to extend the refund to noncarbonated beverage bottles and about the question of the deposit program's viability versus the cost of litter cleanup statewide.
State Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, said that he plans to introduce amended bills in the state House of Representatives today designed to crack down on out-of-state bottle deposit fraud. The bills would set penalties for people who redeem non-Michigan containers and the retailers who knowingly pay them; require that deposit machines be modified to refuse out-of-state empties, and mandate unique markings on returnable beverage containers sold in Michigan.
According to the state Department of Environmental Quality's most recent data, refunds totaled $399.5 million in 2006, a 96% redemption rate.
"Looking at it since its inception, it's worked. If you look at the overall recycling numbers in Michigan, we're not doing as good a job as we should," department spokesman Robert McCann said Tuesday. "When you look at bottles and cans, our numbers are extremely high as far as the number that are returned and recycled."
At a time when the environment has become one of the major issues of our time, Michigan's bottle law has evolved from the days when conservationists fought to get the issue on the ballot. Now the Michigan Food and Beverage Association is lobbying for collection centers and curbside recycling to handle the 400-million-plus bottles redeemed every year -- instead of just grocery and party stores.
According to Dennis Muchmore, the Michigan United Conservation Clubs' executive director, bottles and cans that are returned to retailers and ultimately, distributors, are sold to recyclers who might make the aluminum into new cans, the plastic into floor mats and carpeting and the glass into pavement and new bottles. The group supports adding noncarbonated drinks to the bottle law and, like the Department of Environmental Quality, said retailers have a responsibility for the products they sell.
"We've got essentially 1.5 billion bottles not being brought back because they're not eligible currently," he explained. "About 20% are brought to recyclers on their own, because there's always value in plastic and glass, etc."
Ed Deeb, president of the Michigan Food and Beverage Association in Warren, wants to see the deposit program replaced by recycling centers and curbside collecting, paid for with a one-penny-per-shopping-trip fee that would add up to $20 million a year. This, he predicted, would motivate more people to recycle and would mean more tonnage to sell to reprocessors, who pay more for volume.
"We don't want dirty bottles and cans coming into our food stores; we're not a rubbish-collection agency," he said.
McCann cited three benefits of the bottle law -- less litter, less space needed in landfills and less need for new glass, plastic and aluminum.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081203/NEWS06/812030320
