March 27, 2009
Indiana remains 'No deposit, no return'
A bottle-deposit law that would increase recycling rates in Indiana did not get a committee hearing in the legislature.
MUNCIE -- Don't expect the state legislature to enact a law this year requiring a deposit on beverage containers.
"We have a bottle bill in the House ... right now, but I don't think it's going to go very far this year because the gentleman who introduced it really didn't go out and look for a lot of support for it," said recycling advocate Lisa Laflin during a Women's Week talk at Ball State University this week. "We have a statewide recycling coalition that is very active, and this representative didn't even approach the coalition to ask if we could help him get this bill passed."
HB 1570, introduced by Rep. Vern Tincher, D-Terre Haute, would require returnable beverage containers to be used beginning in 2010. It would establish a 10-cent refundable deposit on each container. Retailers would be required to make cash refunds to consumers, and distributors would have to make cash refunds to retailers.
Any excess deposits would be used to compensate retailers for taking returns and provide revenue to the Indiana Heritage Trust, the state program that buys land from willing sellers to protect Indiana's natural heritage for wildlife habitat and recreation.
"Overall, the national recycling rate for plastic beverage containers is about 24 percent, but the bottle bill states it's 71 percent," said Laflin, who spent the past four years as recycling coordinator for the city of Indianapolis before that position was eliminated.
If Tincher's bill had been adopted, Indiana would join 11 other "bottle bill states" -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont.
HB 1570 defines a beverage container as a metal, glass or plastic container holding beverages including a soft drink, soda water, carbonated natural or mineral water, spring water, purified water, flavored water, beer, mixed wine or spirit drink.
"We see a lot of that in the roadside litter," said Ben Lassiter, community service coordinator for Delaware County Community Corrections. "Beer bottles, beer cans, Pepsi bottles, water bottles. People throw it out of their cars."
Recycling rates are higher in states with container-deposit laws because "if people associate value with something, they're less likely to throw it out," said Nikki Grigsby, recycling coordinator for the Muncie Sanitary District. "If there's a nickel attached to that bottle, they're less likely to throw it out."
The Star Press was unable to reach Tincher for comment on Wednesday or Thursday. His bill did not get a committee hearing.
The purpose of bottle bills is to encourage recycling, complement recycling programs, extend the life of landfills and reduce beverage-container litter along roads and in waterways.
"It also creates jobs and reduces our dependence on petroleum," Laflin said. "All plastics are made basically from petroleum or natural gas with other things added in."
The National Grocers Association and other groups have opposed mandatory bottle deposit systems on grounds that they undermine recycling efforts, and they direct consumers to bring dirty beverage containers to neighborhood grocery stores -- creating a sanitation hazard.
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20090327/NEWS01/903270315
