March 26, 2009
Oregon House committee approves bottle bill additions
Oregon's bottle bill would include nickel deposits for sports drinks and bottles and cans of coffee, tea and juice by Jan. 1, 2013, under a bill approved by a state House committee today.
The bottle bill additions would come on top of water bottles, added this year, and containers of soda and beer, which have carried a nickel deposit since the bottle bill took effect in 1972.
The House environment and water committee sent House Bill 2184 to the House floor this afternoon on a 5-3 vote, with Democrats supporting and Republicans against. If the full House approves it, it will move to the Senate.
As amended, the bill bumps the required deposit from a nickel to a dime by 2016 at the earliest, and then only if recycling and redemption of items covered under the bottle bill drops below 80 percent in 2015. A task force commissioned by the 2007 Legislature had recommended doubling the deposit by 2011.
The committee also voted earlier to abandon adding nickel deposit requirements for wine and liquor bottles. The task force had recommended adding those containers, too.
Grocers and beer and wine distributors want the Legislature to punt any expansion of the bottle bill to the 2011 Legislature, saying they need time to work with the addition of water bottles. Environmentalists and other supporters say including more items will increase recycling by boosting returns.
Grocers and distributors have proposed a series of 90 "redemption centers" across the state, with grocery stores exempted from taking recyclables if they fall within a still-undefined "convenience zone" around the centers. Part of the industry funding for the centers would come from unredeemed deposits that bottlers and distributors keep.
The House bill is largely silent on redemption centers. But it does require that grocery stores near a center still allow each customer to return as many as 24 containers a day, down from 144 now.
Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association, said earlier that grocers and distributors will withdraw their redemption center offer if the Legislature forces them to pay for two collection systems.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/03/oregon_house_committee_approve.html
