December 28, 2008
Bottle bill changes take effect Friday
Deposits increase to 10 cents, all water bottles will be accepted and retailers must take back all brands of products they sell
Starting Jan. 1, consumers will pay an extra nickel for bottled water and face longer lines at bottle returns, but — state officials hope — less plastic will be headed to landfills.
Changes to the state's 38-year-old bottle bill, which already covers beer and soda containers, will add a five-cent deposit to all water bottles. The revised law also allows customers to bring the empties back to any retailer who sells particular products.
What about these?
Peter Spendelow, a Department of Environmental Quality policy analyst, said state officials hope to eventually add other types of beverage containers to Oregon's list of refundable bottles, such as tea, wine, milk and juice containers, in order to improve recycling habits around the state.
For details on the revised bottle bill, visit online, www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/bottlebill/
For example, if a store sells beer, it must redeem all types of beer bottles and cans, not just those from the brands it sells.
Peter Spendelow, a Department of Environmental Quality policy analyst who helped draft changes to the bottle bill, said the state implemented the changes due to research that showed fewer consumers are making an effort to recycle water bottles compared to soda and beer bottles.
"Water bottles don't have a very good recycling rate, which could be because people drink water away from home a lot so they're not likely to put them in their backpack and carry them back home to recycle at the curb," Spendelow said.
"Realistically, we probably only recycle about a third of our water bottles at curbside and through other methods. We're expecting that to go up to 60 or more percent under the new bottle bill."
A single company, Container Recovery of Portland, will retrieve all recycled bottles from stores around the state.
Bob Ames, general manager for Sherm's Thunderbird Market in Medford, said he approved of the concept of increased recyclables and appreciated the added convenience of just one vendor picking up returned bottles.
He pointed out, however, that the new bill will add costs for grocers, and customers will find themselves paying between 25 and 43 cents more per case of water on top of the five-cent deposits.
For example, a 24-pack of water would increase by $1.20 for 24 five-cent deposits, plus 25 cents to cover added costs to the retailer.
Ames said the store was working to acquire additional bottle-return machines. "We're hoping the container companies are going to come out with some more-sophisticated machines that will allow them to accept the containers a little more easily."
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