February 28, 2009
BOTTLE BILL: Deposit law now includes water, but why not go all the way?
The General Assembly took a giant step last week when it passed a law adding a nickel deposit to bottled water — a move that will add millions of dollars to the state's general fund while reducing the litter that befouls Connecticut's beautiful environment.
The next step this legislative session should be to include containers of all other noncarbonated drinks under the umbrella of the deposit law.
The original bottle bill, passed in 1978, imposed a deposit on bottles and cans of carbonated beverages only. At that time, lawmakers did not foresee the explosion in the popularity of bottled water, especially, and of teas, fruit drinks and other noncarbonated beverages. Environmentalists have been fighting for decades to expand the bottle bill as water and other noncarbonated beverages caught on, but not until this year — with the state needing extra revenue to meet budget deficits — did they prevail over powerful lobbyists representing beverage bottlers.
In the past, unclaimed deposits went to the bottlers. Earlier this year, Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposed and the legislature passed a law to turn over those unclaimed deposits to the state.
In 2006, Connecticut residents bought 1.6 billion bottles and cans of carbonated beverages, according to the national Container Recycling Institute. That same year, they bought 580 million bottles of water and 265 million containers of other noncarbonated drinks. Assuming nickel deposits from a third of those containers were unclaimed, the state could reap an estimated $42 million.
Some of that money should go to the bottlers to offset their expenses once those costs are determined by an independent accounting. But even after offsetting the bottlers' costs, expanding the bottle bill to include bottles and cans of all noncarbonated beverages would add millions more to state coffers to help fight deficits and also provide an incentive to recycle, thus reducing litter.
An empty bottle of water or sports drink is just as much an eyesore as an empty bottle of soda.
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-bottle.art.artfeb28,0,638536.story
