March 26, 2008
UT Poll - 80 percent of Tennesseans support bottle deposit bill
KNOXVILLE — More than four out of five Tennesseans, 80.4 percent, support a refundable 5-cent deposit on glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers as a way to increase recycling and reduce litter, according to a statewide survey conducted earlier this month by the University of Tennessee’s Social Science Research Institute in Knoxville.
The results are expected to bolster legislative support for a proposed Tennessee "bottle bill" that is scheduled to go before a House committee tomorrow.
The March 2008 Recycling Poll was conducted by telephone among 777 randomly selected registered voters between March 2 and March 20, 2008, providing a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Michael Gant, director of the research institute and professor of political science at UT, designed and analyzed the survey through a contract with Scenic Tennessee, Inc. The Social Science Research Institute is perhaps best known for its annual Tennessee Poll, which since 1989 has tracked Tennesseans’ attitudes on everything from a state income tax to the lottery.
Results of the recycling poll can be viewed at www.tnbottlebill.org.
While the poll’s emphasis was on recycling, it also asked respondents how much of a problem they consider littering to be in Tennessee. Nearly half (48.3 percent) consider litter to be a “serious problem," and another 42.2 percent said it is "somewhat of a problem." Only 1.8 percent said litter was "not a problem at all." Litter was most likely to be judged “serious” among residents of East Tennessee (55.5 percent), farming families (57 percent), those without any college (57.3 percent) and those earning less than $25,000 a year (59.3 percent). Almost 70 percent of respondents (69.1 percent) said they felt a container deposit would reduce litter in Tennessee.
Asked about their current level of recycling, more than a fourth of those interviewed said they never or rarely recycle (26.8 percent), and another 17 percent said they recycle only when convenient. Just 21.6 percent said they “recycle everything or nearly everything” they can. But almost 80 percent of the total felt that a 5-cent deposit on glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers would increase recycling rates in Tennessee, and 75% said it would increase their own recycling.
According to estimates from the state’s Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee’s household recycling rate is only about 10 percent. By contrast, states with 5-cent deposits have container-recycling rates that are as much as nine times higher than Tennessee’s (average 78 percent), as well as overall recycling rates that are as much as five times higher (average 31 percent). In addition, their per-capita litter rates, though not often calculated, appear to be as much as 90 percent lower than Tennessee’s.
“The UT survey confirms what most legislators tell us they have long suspected—that their constituents overwhelmingly support a bottle bill,” said Marge Davis, vice president of Scenic Tennessee and coordinator of the bottle-bill advocacy effort known as Pride of Place (POP). “While we hope legislators will act on this new information, we also hope it bolsters Governor Bredesen’s recent challenge to Tennessee to take the lead in developing energy solutions that provide economic and environmental benefits to its citizens.”
Support for a container deposit is strikingly nonpartisan, Davis said. “According to the survey’s demographic breakdowns, support is high across all party lines, all ages, all regions, all income levels, all races, all education levels and all political ideologies.”
Moreover, said Davis, when asked if they would “strongly” support such a program versus merely “supporting” it, 44.4 percent of respondents said they would “strongly” support it, compared to 36 percent who would "support" it. This higher level of support was the case in virtually all demographic subgroups. For instance, of the 82.9 percent of rural non-farm dwellers who said they would support a bottle bill, 56.2 percent said they would “strongly” support it.
Tomorrow the House Government Operations Committee is scheduled to hear HB1829/SB1408, a container-deposit bill introduced by Rep. Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory) and Sen. Doug Jackson (D-Dickson). The bill has thirteen additional cosponsors—seven Democrats and six Republicans.
Tennesseans should be grateful to these legislators, Davis said, considering the powerful and well-funded opposition the legislation faces from the state’s beverage and grocery industries.
"While these folks deserve to have their say, we believe that in the end, legislators will vote with the majority of their constituents on this bill, especially given its considerable economic, social and environmental benefits.”
These benefits include not just the recovery of at least 200,000 tons of high-quality scrap each year. They also include longer landfill life, increased funding for litter control, reduced taxpayer costs for waste management, millions of fundraising dollars for schools, Little Leagues and other community causes via “bottle drives,” fewer injuries to livestock, a strengthened tourism economy, reduced greenhouse gases, an increased supply of feedstock to manufacturers like ALCOA and Mohawk, and the creation of hundreds of small businesses in the form of independent, mostly “mom-&-pop” redemption centers.
“The biggest objection to bottle bills in the past was that they forced grocers and other retailers to take back the empty cans and bottles, costing them time, space and aggravation as well as money,” said Davis. “That was the old days. Today, most states have moved the redemption process out of the stores and into neighborhood redemption centers, which receive a handling fee paid by the beverage distributors to cover the cost of collecting and sorting their packaging waste and making sure it goes back into the manufacturing stream.”
Tennessee’s bill relies exclusively on independent redemption centers (which may be owned by local governments and nonprofit agencies as well as businesses and individuals) and allots them a handling fee of 3 cents per container. Private recyclers get the scrap for free in return for providing regular pick-up and verification services.
According to 2005 beverage industry and USDA data, Tennesseans consume 4.2 billion beers, sodas, bottled waters, energy drinks, iced coffees, iced teas and so on every year. According to the latest scrap prices published by Recyclers World, these containers collectively have a potential market value of more than $100 million—or close to 3 cents a container. Under the proposed bottle bill, Tennessee can expect to recover 85 percent of this material, most of which will be used to make new beverage containers, greatly reducing energy usage and raw materials and thus holding down production costs—savings that at some level will be felt by the beverage companies.
“Opponents claim that the 3-cent handling fee will drive up beverage prices in the store,” Davis noted. “However, if you look at bottle-bill states that have similar handling fees, you’ll see that retail beverage prices in those states are actually lower, on average, than in states without a container deposit, including Tennessee.”
In Maine, for instance, which has a 3-cent handling fee, the everyday (not sale) price last week for a 12-pack of Coke at a major supermarket chain (Hannaford Bros.) was $3.34, compared to $4.99 for the same product at Kroger here in Tennessee. A 12-pack of Dasani water was $3.99 at Hannaford, compared to $5.29 at Kroger. Minutemaid apple juice was $3.39 for six 10-ounce plastic bottles, versus $3.99 at Kroger.
And while the shelf price for a Budweiser 6-pack was lower in Tennessee ($5.49 at Kroger vs. $5.99 at Hannaford), a Budweiser 12-pack was the same price in both stores ($9.99), and a Budweiser 18-pack was 22% more expensive in Tennessee ($14.59 at Kroger versus $11.99 at Hannaford).
The total for all these items was $38.69 in Maine versus $44.34 in Tennessee—a difference of $5.65, or an increase of about 14%. Even if one included the refundable 5-cent deposits—$3.30 for 66 individual containers in this sample—the Maine shopper still came out ahead, by $2.35.
Of course, it’s hard to say exactly what part bottle bills play in setting beverage prices; other factors have an impact, from transportation to taxes to utilities. But the bottom line is that it costs money to throw away almost 4 billion containers a year, and judging by the UT survey, most Tennesseans understand that.
