Editorial

Helping the environment

It would be great if people were responsible enough to recycle used cans and bottles without the incentive of getting back a nickel deposit. Better yet, consumers could significantly reduce energy consumption, save natural resources and cut waste if they simply refilled water bottles from the tap rather than buying their water in 30 billion individual bottles annually.

But alas, without the desire to retrieve that five cents, many people simply toss their bottles and cans in the garbage, or out the car window. Studies have repeatedly shown that deposits appreciably improve recycling. And as for using tap water - it appears Americans will not give up their “natural spring water” in bottles anytime soon.

Given those realities, the decision by the Connecticut General Assembly to extend the five-cent deposit to water bottles makes sense. Originally scheduled to begin in April, the beverage industry now has until Oct. 1 to begin collecting the deposits. Secretary Robert L. Genuario of the Office of Policy and Management granted the delay to give the beverage and food retail industries time to change labeling, prepare collection vending machines, calculate the additional costs associated with the change and clarify what products are covered.

Even with the delay, preparing for the change will be a challenge.

When Connecticut first began collecting deposits on beer and soft-drink containers in 1980, bottled water was a small part of the beverage industry. Now it is a dominant force. If the goal of the deposit program is to reduce the number of bottles that people throw away or that end up as roadside litter, exempting bottled water made no sense.

Many elected state leaders, however, were reluctant to further burden the beverage industry or require consumers to reach into their pockets for more nickels. While it might be nice to think that concern for the environment finally resulted in a change of heart, the reality is that money appeared to be the prime motivator.

In addition to extending deposits to water bottles, the legislature also ended the practice of allowing bottlers and distributors to keep all those nickels that consumers never bothered to redeem. Those uncollected deposits will now go to the state. The change, along with adding water containers, could generate $12 million in new revenue annually for the state, according to some estimates.

Given the fiscal crisis, lawmakers were not about to overlook that much loose change.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=17110ad2-44b7-4787-a75a-b2872b0bf18d