June 28, 2008
Expanded bottle bill would bring many benefits
Michigan citizens have a timely opportunity to correct a serious problem with litter along our state's streams, lakes, beaches and roadways.
At the same time, Michiganders can help reduce energy use and create new jobs.
How is this possible? By contacting your state legislators and asking them to support expanding Michigan's Bottle Bill to include non-carbonated drinks such as bottled water, sport drinks, tea and juice containers.
The 50,000 hunters and anglers and 400 affiliated clubs that belong to the Michigan United Conservation Clubs overwhelmingly support this proposal. MUCC first blazed this trail in 1976 when Michigan, by a 2-to-1 voter margin, became the first state to pass a bottle law. The current law has been incredibly successful. Look about you as you drive a car or walk along a trail. You don't see pop and beer cans because they're worth 10 cents each. What you do see are plenty of throw-away containers. This wasteful practice must change.
According to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), in 2005 each Michigan resident bought an average of 338 bottles and cans of soda pop and beer for a total of 5.5 billion containers. More than 97 percent of those containers were recycled. Sadly, only 20 percent of the 1.4 billion empty non-fizzy containers Michiganders consumed were recycled. Where did they go?
They ended up in landfills or were tossed out to litter our roads and critical wildlife habitats. This is no longer acceptable.
Beverage containers can comprise more than half of litter. For example, last fall the New York Public Interest Research Group conducted litter surveys at 20 sites across the state, which has a bottle bill similar to Michigan's. Even though non-carbonated beverages make up less than 30 percent of the U.S. beverage market, containers from these products accounted for 61 percent of the beverage container litter and 21 percent of the total litter volume.
Thirty years ago when Michigan voters approved the current law, no one drank bottled water. Sport drinks didn't exist. How things have changed! In a 2007 report called "Water, Water Everywhere: The Growth of non-carbonated beverages in the United States," the CRI estimated that non-carbonated drink sales were increasing much faster than pop and beer sales. In fact, sales of flavored, non-fizzy beverages are expected to outsell soda pop sales by 2010. This is why we need to encourage our lawmakers to add these containers to the 10-cent deposit law. And we need to do it now.
Besides helping reduce litter, expanding the Bottle Bill will:
As debate heats up on this critical issue, you'll be hearing from those who oppose changing the law to include non-fizzy beverages. They will tell you that such change amounts to a tax on consumers. If that's true, then why is the "tax" refundable? Wouldn't it be great if you could get back all your "taxes" in the same way that container deposits are refundable?
Michiganders are rightly proud of our current Bottle Bill. But the law needs improvement. It's time to join other states such as California, Hawaii and Maine that already have a deposit on non-carbonated drinks.
Michigan should be next. Time is running out. Before state senators and representatives recess for the 4th of July holiday, residents should urge them to support expanding the Bottle Bill.
-- Dennis Muchmore is executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs based in Lansing.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/121463371441310.xml&coll=6
