July 15, 2009
Bottle Bill fate still hanging in balance
Nickel deposits meant to discourage littering
The five-cent deposit every consumer pays when buying a liter of soda or a bottle of beer would disappear under a bill the Legislature passed the last day of the session.
But after two weeks, Gov. Jack Markell still hasn't signed the repeal of the surcharge into law, casting doubt on whether the measure, known as the "Bottle Bill," will become a thing of the past any time soon.
The bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Joe Miro, R-Foxfire, said he's worried about an effort he sees as an important first step toward overhauling the state's recycling programs -- and giving consumers their 5 cents back.
"The fact that today is July 14 and it hasn't been signed gives me a significant amount of stomachache," Miro said.
The surcharge was approved in 1982 as part of an effort to curb roadside litter and spur recycling. It requires distributors to levy a 5-cent deposit and then return the nickel when plastic or glass bottles are returned. It doesn't apply to liquor, water or juice bottles.
The program has long been criticized as a cash cow for distributors because they hold on to the money from deposits on bottles that are not returned, although they do pay for the collection and disposal of those that do come back.
It might add up to a lot of money -- 2002 estimates put the amount of unclaimed deposits at about $3 million annually.
The exact amount isn't public because distributors refuse to release data showing the rate at which bottles are returned.
Opponents of the surcharge say it has done little to encourage people to return bottles to retailers, and with the increase in recycling programs, it's an unfair charge on people who responsibly recycle empty containers.
Supporters say the deposit law has cut the amount of roadside trash. They say the bottle bill might have some problems, but abolishing it isn't going to fix those issues, just make them worse.
Markell has not said definitively whether he will sign or veto the bill. The clock hasn't started ticking on the deadline for him to sign or veto the bill because the bill hasn't yet moved to him from the Legislature.
"This is an issue the governor is still reviewing. He has not made any decisions yet," said Joe Rogalsky, spokesman for Markell, in an e-mail. "The governor has heard a lot of concerns from advocates and opponents of the bill. He's taking time to go through the issues that have been raised."
Officials with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control have said they oppose abolishing the 5-cent deposit and are encouraging the governor to veto the bill.
David Small, deputy DNREC secretary, said the state should look at ways to improve the program instead of getting rid of the deposit.
"We admitted that it could be improved," Small said.
"We would rather work with stakeholders to improve the bill rather than see it abolished."
Small said DNREC at present plays only a small role in the deposit exchanges. Because private industry conducts the program, Small said, the state has no idea how many bottles are being collected.
He added that nothing in the law mandates that distributors recycle the bottles once they are returned and they could simply be throwing them away after receiving them back from consumers.
Impact on littering cited
Support for retaining the deposit also has come from external sources, including a letter urging a veto from Betsy Swan, president of the New York State League of Women Voters.
Swan said New York recently expanded the reach of its bottle deposit law to cover bottled water, noncarbonated drinks and juices because the system had been so effective since its adoption in 1983. She said litter surveys in New York show that nondeposit containers outnumber deposit containers by two to one along rivers and highways.
Swan said more than 90 billion bottles and cans have been returned and recycled in New York as a result of the bottle bill, diverting more than 6 million tons of glass, plastic and aluminum from landfills. Litter has decreased by 30 percent.
Ellen Valentino, executive vice president of the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Beverage Association, which represents regional bottlers, said her organization supports the repeal.
"We think it would be good for local retail customers," Valentino said.
Alan Muller, who directs the environmental group Green Delaware, said that repealing the surcharge would be moving the state backward instead of forward in the recycling world.
"Delaware has a low, disgracefully low, rate of recycling," Muller said.
Muller said other states have established multiple locations to return bottles, making redemption easier. He supports increasing the deposit instead of abolishing it, possibly as high as a quarter a bottle.
"The deposit isn't very much," he said. "Five cents wasn't much back in 1982."
Muller added that a repeal could set a bad precedent for the 10 other states that have such deposits.
A study commissioned by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority found that in 2000, deposits were paid on 93.2 million containers, but only about 32 percent of the deposits were claimed. The remaining funds -- about $3 million -- were kept by the distributors.
'It's better than nothing'
Nicholas A. DiPasquale, a former DNREC secretary, said the Bottle Bill in its current form isn't working and the funds could be used to pay for a comprehensive statewide recycling program.
"Most consumers either don't care or they don't realize they're paying a deposit when they purchase their beverages and they certainly don't want to go through the trouble of taking them back," DiPasquale said. "The bottle bill as it's currently structured is not working. It creates a windfall to the distributors and it's not getting the job done."
He supports a veto, however.
"It's not working, but it's better than nothing," DiPasquale said.
Chris Tigani, president of World Class Wholesale and former head of NKS Distributors, disputes the windfall notion, but supports repealing the deposit.
He said the deposit isn't a profit source for liquor distributors. If half of the bottles are returned, the administrative costs of collecting and recycling them offset any profit from keeping the deposits on the other half.
"Because of this economy that we are in, redemption rates have gone up and we expect them to go up even further," Tigani said. If the rates keep increasing, eventually it's going to be a cost for the distributors to collect and recycle them.
Tigani said most liquor distributors see about a third of the bottles the sell returned. "We didn't throw any of them in the trash that I know of," he said. "We had tractor-trailer loads of glass going to the Solid Waste Authority."
Tigani said he supports an expansion of curbside recycling, which could be more effective.
Julie Miro Wenger, spokeswoman for the Delaware Food Industry Council, said the state's supermarkets are also behind repealing the surcharge.
Most supermarkets only get back about 5 percent of the bottles they sell, said Wenger, who is Rep. Miro's daughter.
"Curbside and single-stream recycling is the way to go, and we believe that convenience of allowing your bottles to go with the rest of your recycling at your curb is much more convenient for the consumer," Wenger said.
HOW IT WORKS
THE LAW
Delaware's "Bottle Bill" was passed in 1982 and took effect in 1983. It imposes a 5 cents per bottle deposit on glass and plastic bottles, excluding bottles of 2 liters or more.
The law covers only:
• Beer and malt beverages.
• Carbonated soft drinks.
• Carbonated mineral water.
NOT COVERED
Unlike most states with deposit laws, Delaware does not include aluminum cans.
Liquor, wine and sports drink bottles weren't included in the original law.
The law also doesn't cover bottled water, coffee and tea beverages, and personal-size juice bottles.
HOW IT WORKS
Soft drink bottling companies or alcoholic beverage wholesalers add the 5 cents deposit to the price they charge a retailer.
When a customer returns a bottle, the retailer returns the 5 cents out of pocket and is later reimbursed 6 cents by the wholesaler or bottler.
A wholesaler typically takes redeemed empties back in its delivery trucks.
Empties are returned to the wholesaler for disposition. Most ship bottles to the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, which ships them to Pennsylvania for recycling.
Wholesalers get to keep unreturned deposits. State law does not include reporting requirements for either the disposition of returned bottles or how much in unreturned deposits a wholesaler has.
THE PROPOSED CHANGE
Effective Sept. 1, 2010, consumers would no longer pay a 5-cent deposit on plastic and glass bottles. Retailers would also stop refunding the deposits to customers on the same day.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090715/NEWS02/907150352
