July 13, 2010
Opinion
Bottle bill for a new era
Laurie Robertson-Lorant is a teacher, Melville biographer, poet and environmentalist. She lives in Dartmouth.
In 1983, Massachusetts adopted a very successful bottle bill that required consumers to pay a 5-cent deposit for every beer and soda can and bottle. Since that bill was passed, Massachusetts residents have redeemed or recycled 30 billion bottles and cans.
Eighty percent of all deposit containers are redeemed and/or recycled, while 20 percent end up in the trash, or on beaches, roadsides and parks. By contrast, 80 percent of non-deposit cans and bottles end up in landfills and incinerators that pollute the air, and only 20 percent are recycled.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the 1983 bottle bill has saved cities and towns tens of thousands of dollars in cleanup and disposal costs; an expanded bill would save even more money for our communities. Deposits on bottles and cans are not taxes; they are user fees to pay for cleanup and disposal. When deposits are not claimed by consumers, the money goes to the state's general fund, which is a win-win situation for the commonwealth.
The past 12 years have seen an explosion in sales of bottled water, juices, iced tea and various kinds of sports drinks. Every year, one billion of these non-deposit beverage containers — the majority of them plastic water bottles — are thoughtlessly discarded in public places. That's enough bottles and cans to fill Fenway Park to the monster seats.
As I write this, a bottle bill that would extend the 5-cent deposit to water, juice, iced tea and sports drink bottles is sitting in the Telecommunication Utilities and Energy Committee. If this updated bottle bill is not sent to the full Legislature by July 14, it will die, and it cannot be revived for two years.
The result of inaction on the proposed new bill by the TUE Committee would be lost revenue for the commonwealth as well as more litter, more trash in landfills and more incineration of containers that release toxic substances when they are burned.
The Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), the Massachusetts Recycling Coalition, the Environmental League of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and many other grass-roots organizations are urging citizens to take five minutes to call or e-mail their state representative and state senator to express support for swift passage of the bill.
For our voices to be heard, we have to speak up. Ask your representatives to express their support to House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray. If you know who your legislators are, call the Statehouse switchboard at (617) 722-2000 and ask to be connected to them.
If you don't know who your legislators are, go to http://www.mass.gov/legis/city_town.htm for contact information. If they already support the new bottle bill, thank them for acting responsibly on your behalf; if they don't, urge them to take a strong stand for a clean environment, good public health and a sound economy.
For more information on the new bottle bill and how efforts to reduce/reuse/recycle can preserve the health of our land, our water, our air and ourselves, consult the websites of the organizations mentioned above.
If every man, woman and child took action to achieve a better quality of life on the home front, every animal, plant and human being on this endangered planet would enjoy a better quality of life.
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