May 13, 2008
Legislators uncap bottle bill debate
Proposal called an eco-boost or a hidden tax
BY CLAIRE HEININGER
Could paying an extra dime for a bottle of water stop New Jerseyans from tossing it out the car window or dumping it in the trash?
Or would it amount to a tax on already-squeezed consumers and a burden on small businesses?
Those were the scenarios sketched out yesterday as lawmakers and lobbyists exchanged their first volleys over a proposed "bottle bill," reviving an issue that was raised and ultimately shot down 20 years ago.
The new "Smart Container Act" would require a 10-cent deposit on all plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers sold throughout the state as an incentive to recycle. Customers could take the empty containers to stores or redemption centers to get their money back, with most of the leftover unclaimed revenues used for environmental initiatives.
Eleven other states, including New York and Michigan, already have bottle deposit programs, but New Jersey's could be among the most ambitious, said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), one of the bill's sponsors.
"They must be doing something right," she said yesterday. "New Jersey should be in the forefront of something like this."
Gov. Jon Corzine agreed, saying the legislation could help the state regain its status as a recycling leader.
"We have tended to back away from the successes that we had in the early stages, in the'80s, and I think that this is one of those ways to restore that vigorous implementation," Corzine told reporters yesterday, adding that he was in favor of the bill "in concept" but wanted to review it in more detail.
"In general, I think we need to renew our vigor with regard to recycling," the governor said. "I am sure we will hear push-back from people who call that a tax. Actually, if you do a good job of recycling, it isn't."
After the bill was discussed at a meeting of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, Huttle said she hoped to build support for it between now and when the Legislature takes it up again in the fall. But she and other supporters acknowledged an uphill battle, as opponents in the retail and beverage industries voiced their complaints, raising some of the same points that led to the bottle bill's defeat in the 1980s.
Critics said a deposit law would undermine existing recycling programs, drive businesses out of state and expose New Jersey to scammers bringing hundreds of bottles over state lines.
"The bill really sets up fertile ground for fraud," said Kevin Dietly, a consultant for the American Beverage Association. "Just in the Philadelphia area alone, it's staggering what would happen ... I would argue that the state would end up in the hole."
But environmentalists said those fears did not materialize in other states, and pointed to successes like Michigan's 97.3 percent recycling rate for its 10-cent deposit bottles. New Jersey, according to the Sierra Club, ranks at 30 percent for plastic and 50 percent for aluminum.
"This Legislature has a chance to look at a situation it hasn't looked at in 20 years," said David Yennior, the Sierra Club's recycling issues coordinator. "Maybe the environment can win out."
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