April 28, 2009
House panel OKs bottle bill changes
An Oregon House committee approved changes to Oregon's bottle bill today, but not before removing a provision dear to environmentalists that would have guaranteed continued bottle and can returns to grocery stores.
The environment and water committee sent House Bill 2184 to the House floor on a 5-3 vote, with Democrats supporting and Republicans opposed. The bill requires nickel deposits for sports drinks and bottles and cans of coffee, tea and juice by Jan. 1, 2013.
It also bumps the required deposit from a nickel to a dime by 2016 if recycling and redemption of items covered under the bottle bill drops below 80 percent in 2015.
After amendments today, the bill won't address how the state should administer "redemption centers."
Grocers and distributors have proposed a series of 90 centers across the state, with grocery stores exempted from taking recyclables if they fall within a still-undefined "convenience zone" around the centers.
The bill had required that stores near a center continue to accept as many as 24 containers a day, down from 144 now.
But grocers strongly opposed paying for two systems. Rep. Ben Cannon, D-Portland, the committee's chairman, said he agreed to pull that provision to move the bill forward.
Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland, a committee member, said he wants to see required returns to grocers restored.
"I'm very concerned that we are putting that (bottle bill) system in jeopardy," he said, by "moving toward a system where we are requiring people to make an extra trip."
The new containers added to the bottle bill would come in addition to water bottles, which were added this year, and containers of soda and beer, which have carried a nickel deposit since the bottle bill took effect in 1972.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/04/house_panel_oks_bottle_bill_ch.html
