April 2, 2010
Statewide recycling proposed in Delaware Senate
Ending 5-cent deposit on bottles part of plan
DOVER -- Legislation to make statewide recycling a reality was filed in the Senate on Thursday.
Senate Bill 234, sponsored by Sen. Dave McBride, D-Hawks Nest, would implement a multifaceted program that would turn the deposit paid for plastic and glass bottles into a fee that would fund the program and then entirely eliminate the fee in 2014. The legislation aims to move Delaware closer to a zero-waste state.
"This would be a win for the environment and a win for Delawareans, who would have an easy -- but optional -- way to recycle in their homes and businesses," McBride said in a news release.
The legislation sets Delaware's municipal waste recycling target at 50 percent for 2015, compared with 30 percent currently. The goal would rise to 60 percent by 2020. Total recycling rates, including those for business and commercial castoffs, would be set at 72 percent in 2015 and 80 percent in 2020.
The legislation, developed by Gov. Jack Markell's office, has the goal of providing curbside recycling for all residents without an increase in trash hauling prices.
Trash collectors would be required to provide recycling containers for all single-family homes, restaurants and bars by September 2011 and apartment complexes and commercial businesses by January 2014.
Effective Dec. 1, the 5-cent deposit on bottles would be eliminated. Residents would have until Feb. 1, 2011 to collect deposits on bottles.
The 4-cent fee that would replace the deposit would no longer be refundable. The revenue from the fee would cover the cost of recycling bins the legislation would require the trash haulers to make available. The 4-cent fee would expire on Dec. 1, 2014.
Last year, lawmakers passed legislation that would have done away with the bottle deposit entirely, pointing to figures that suggest consumers rarely return the empty containers and amid complaints from alcohol distributors that the responsibility of collecting the used bottles was onerous. Markell vetoed the legislation.
McBride's previous attempts to establish a statewide recycling program have been unsuccessful. In 2008, he proposed legislation that would have created a $3 fee for every ton of trash brought into Delaware landfills. Opposition from trash haulers who said it would raise their costs led to the legislation's defeat in the Senate.
"I have been working on recycling in Delaware for more than 15 years, and this legislation would achieve a long-sought goal to have a true, comprehensive recycling system in this state," McBride said.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100402/NEWS02/4020345
