August 6, 2008
Park association joins effort to expand bottle bill
Water and other drink bottles should be included, group says
The Michigan Recreation and Park Association has added its muscle to the effort to extend Michigan’s 1976 bottle deposit law to cover non-carbonated drink bottles. Dennis Schornack, executive director of the association, said it would help cut down on litter on roadsides and in parks, saving the parks money. He urged voters to contact their state legislators to call for a change to the deposit law. Because it was adopted by a statewide referendum, changing the law requires support from three-fourths of the legislature.
Studies show that Michiganders return 97% of their beer and soda cans and bottles, which are subject to a 10-cent deposit, but they throw away 80% of other beverage bottles, which have no deposit. Michigan United Conservation Clubs, a statewide outdoors group, launched an effort to update the law in June. But it faces a tough battle from grocers, who dislike the current law because they get stuck with the dirty return cans and bottles, and from water bottlers, who don’t want to see deposits added to their products.
Over the past 30 years, consumers have dramatically shifted their tastes for bottled drinks to non-carbonated tea, water, and sports drinks, without deposits. In 2010, non-carbonated drink sales are expected to soar above pop sales in Michigan. “We must act now to head off a trash explosion,” said Schornack.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080806/NEWS06/80806056/1008/NEWS06
