December 6, 2010
Delaware Recycling Law Goes Into Effect
The recycling law replaces the state’s bottle deposit law.
WILMINGTON, Del. – The new Delaware recycling law went into effect Dec. 1, WGMD News reports. The recycling law replaces a 30-year-old bottle law that required a nickel deposit on some beverage containers.
The new law charges a 4-cent non-refundable fee on the same beverage containers as the bottle deposit law. The fee will go to the Delaware Recycling Fund, which manages the state’s curbside recycling program. The new law will expire in four years and cost at minimum $16 million to operate annually.
State Rep. Gerald Hocker calls the new fee “Delaware’s first sales tax” and doubts it’ll expire as planned. “This has been a no sales tax state,” he said in a news release “We have been very proud of that. It has brought business in from neighboring states and now we’re changing that with this new law. This fee is supposed to be sunsetted after four years, but I haven’t seen any taxes go away yet.”
Hocker also said state officials have not fully prepared distributors and retailers for the end of the bottle bill. “Most Sussex County stores are supplied by soda distributors in Maryland. They tell me they have not received the transition materials DNREC promised them. Some retailers have paid out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in container deposits that they’re due back from the distributors. This is a big deal and it looks like store owners are going to have to scramble to take last minute inventories tonight. I feel the administration has really let them down.”
He adds that it’ll take months for bottles labeled as deposit containers to make their way through the supply pipeline and off store shelves, potentially causing problems for retailers and consumers alike.
http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/News/Daily/Pages/ND1206105.aspx
