January 6, 2009
Oregon Daily Emerald
New year, new laws
Oregon legislatures pass a slew of laws dealing with environmental, personal health
The new year is a time for individuals to make resolutions, and this year the state of Oregon is enacting new laws that the state hopes will improve public health and the environment.
Bottle Bill Expansion
Oregon's Bottle Bill Expansion went into effect Jan. 1 and will extend the list of containers that can be redeemed for a 5 cent deposit to include water, flavored water, beer, malt beverages, soda water, mineral water and carbonated soft drinks, according to an Oregon Liquor Control Commission news release.
The items must be purchased in Oregon with proof marked on the container as "OR 5 cents." In addition to the expanded list of recyclable items, grocery stores and other retailers of 5,000 square feet or more must accept bottles of any brand or size of the products they sell, even if they do not sell a particular type of the product.
This means if a store is more than 5,000 square feet and carries only juices and water, it is required by law to accept any size or brand of juice and water even if the bottle was not purchased at that store.
Grocery stores such as Safeway are hesitant about the program because of three reasons: lack of space, increased cost and sanitation liability.
"This new program is certainly going to affect the way we do business and will obviously increase our operating costs," said Dan Floyd, Safeway director of public affairs. "Even though many of our recycling receptacles are outside, accepting a wider range of products will mean receptacles will fill up faster, and when they are full, we have to move the products into storage until they can be picked up. That is where we must be especially careful to not mix trash with fresh food."
In order to prevent abuses of the program, the law limits the number of bottles an individual may recycle at a store of 5,000 or more square feet to 144 bottles per day and a store under 5,000 square feet to 50.
Story continues discussion of other new laws at http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2009/01/06/News/New-Year.New.Laws-3581869.shtml
