April 21, 2010

Family's Trek Highlights Need For Bottle Bill
Father, Son Gather Bottles, Cans In Walk To Statehouse

COLUMBUS, Ind. -- A father and son are walking from their Columbus home to the Statehouse in hopes of delivering an important message about recycling in Indiana.Michael Greven and his son Liam began the nearly 50-mile trek from Columbus' south side on Wednesday morning.

Along the way, they'll pick up bottle and cans along area roadways in an effort to highlight the need for container refund legislation in Indiana."There is approximately $15 to $20 million worth of potential revenue to the state lying on the side of the road or lying beside the rivers because people don't return their bottles and cans as they do in other states," Michael Greven told 6News.Supporters say instituting a deposit system for bottle and cans provides a monetary incentive to return the container for recycling, which reduces litter, conserves energy and creates new businesses and jobs.Government-funded studies have shown that beverage container legislation has reduced total roadside litter by between 30 percent and 64 percent in the states with so-called bottle billsIn the Midwest, only Michigan and Iowa have container deposit laws. The Grevens said similar legislation in Indiana is long overdue."We found 20 cans in the area of about 10 square feet. It's just ridiculous," said Liam Greven. "(We need to) get the bottle and can legislation so there are not so many bottles and cans on the side of the road and it looks nicer."The pair will be joined by supporters along their walk, and said they hope to arrive at the Statehouse by Saturday morning.

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