September 1, 2009
Stoneham
Stoneham selectmen support Bottle Bill amendment
Stoneham - The Board of Selectmen recently voted to approve a resolution that supports updating the state’s Bottle Bill to require consumers to also pay a deposit for non-carbonated bottles — a move that is being billed as both environmentally and economically advantageous.
The Bottle Bill, or the Beverage Container Recovery Law, was first implemented in Massachusetts in 1983 as way to get consumers to recycle their bottles by providing a monetary incentive. The deposit — 5 cents in Massachusetts — is given back to the consumer once the bottles are returned to the store from which they were purchased.
However, the incentive only covers carbonated beverages, like soda or mineral water, and does not include non-carbonated beverages like water, iced tea and sports drinks.
“Water bottles and sports drink bottles have exploded since the ’80s, so it wasn’t covered under the bill,” said Stoneham resident Ken Pruitt, who came before the board last Tuesday, Aug. 25, to encourage the selectmen to sign off on a resolution supporting an update of this bill.
In fact, the non-carbonated to carbonated consumption ratio is almost 2-1, according to Phil Sego, chairman of the Massachusetts Sierra Club Political Committee.
And only 20 percent of non-carbonated bottles are recycled, while 80 percent go to landfills. This is the exact opposite of carbonated bottles covered under the Bottle Bill, of which 80 percent are recycled — 70 redeemed within stores and 10 percent put in the blue recycling bins.
“It’s worlds apart. The bill is really effective,” said Sego. “The life of a water bottle is forever. It’s rated at more than 10,000 years. It’ll never breakdown. And it’s sad, because we could use that petroleum.”
These plastics are used for textiles, such as upholsteries, carpeting, microfiber and microfleece, according to Sego. He said that all the recycled plastics combined still only account for 20 percent of petroleum needs, with 80 percent coming from “virgin petroleum.”
Economic advantages
But the benefit is not just environmental, according to Sego, who says the state and municipalities would highly benefit from the savings the program would accrue.
“If bottles are thrown out in playgrounds, the town or city needs to clean up that garbage. That is a huge cost to municipalities,” he said. “It’s growing every year because people are switching to iced tea and sports drinks. Because of that growing burden, now the nickels that are collected — that are forfeited because you decided to litter — those are now going back into the economy and those are being used to fund municipalities and fund … through state aid.”
Sego said that an estimated 1.7 cents is raised per bottle.
Yet, Board of Selectmen Chairman John DePinto said that two of his clients, who work for a water bottling business, told him that if this bill were to be updated, the cost of water per bottle would surely go up.
“They’re going to increase cost of water to cover their costs to do all this recycling,” DePinto said. “My concern right now is for the consumer. We’re in a recession right now, and I’m very skeptical of passing on costs.”
Although Sego agreed that the cost per bottle would most likely go up, he said the amount would be minimal, maybe two cents per bottle.
“If I drink a bottle a day, that’s only $7.20 for the whole year,” he said. “The town benefits because you don’t have the litter collection costs and because you don’t have the recycling collection costs. It gets some of it out of the blue bin.”
Sego said that water only costs the manufacturer 1-2 pennies to put in bottles, with an additional cost of 4-5 pennies for the container. “The rest is profit and marketing,” he said.
“The Bottle Bill is a producer-responsibility bill … those who produce all this garbage that we don’t know what to do with …are responsible for cleaning it up,” he said. “If you buy a bottle, it’s a dollar and a nickel for deposit. If you bring the bottle back it’s a nickel back, so at no cost to the consumer.”
The selectmen ultimately agreed to sign the resolution, and as result the town of Stoneham will be listed among other municipalities supporting an update on the Bottle Bill through MassRecycle, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the many benefits of recycling. Other towns on the list include Saugus, Reading, Arlington, Cambridge and Boston.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/stoneham/town_info/government/x1991352172/Stoneham-selectmen-support-bottle-deposit-increase
