April 22, 2010

Bottle Bill may be in the trash

A bill trashing the state's 5 cent bottle deposit law and replacing it with a voluntary statewide curbside recycling programs is headed to the senate for a vote.

The plan ok'd by members of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Control Committee would set up the curbside recycling program which would begin being phased in between 2011 and 2014.

The bottle deposit would go away, but it will be replaced by a four year, four cent fee on the same bottles, that money going toward start up costs for the new program.

DNREC Secretary Colin O'Mara says he feels the program will be a hit and hopes it gets to the Governor's desk quickly.

If approved the bottle deposit would be replaced by the new fee starting in December, but consumers would have until February 1, 2011 to collect their bottle deposits.

http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=761352976450