March 10, 2010
Beverage container deposit proposed
Gary Weiers is all for something that will increase recycling, but he’s not sure if a bill currently in the Legislature is the answer.
  Sarah Heuer and Ben Olson are behind a bill that suggests adding a 10 cent deposit to all beverage containers in the state. They believe the deposit will increase recycling rates while reducing litter. (James Warden/Daily News) |
The Minnesota Recycling Refund Act was first introduced in the House in February 2009 and referred to the Environmental Policy and Oversight Committee. It hit the Senate in March 2009 and was referred to Environment and Natural Resources.
The bill — which could see a vote as early as this session — would propose a 10-cent deposit on beverage containers sold in the state.
Those containers could still go into the curbside single-sort program currently used in Rice County, but consumers might choose to redeem the deposit instead.
Weiers, county administrator and the interim director of solid waste, hesitates to predict how the county’s program will be affected.
“I don’t really have a personal opinion on whether it’s a good or bad idea,” he said Tuesday. “In some respects, it’ll create a layer of bureaucracy that doesn’t exist now; I wouldn’t want to see anything negatively impact our current program, because we’re really heading in the right direction.”
Rice County residents have actively embraced the recycling program, Weiers said.
In the first year after its implementation in August 2008, the recycling tonnage in the county swelled by 315 percent, records show.
That amounts to an increase of 4,000 tons of solid waste that were recycled.
The stream of glass recycling would drop, Weiers said.
Sarah Heuer wants to make an even bigger difference.
“I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true,” said the Bethel College graduate who recently completed her master’s degree at Iowa State University.
Heuer and Ben Olson, a classmate at Bethel, are behind the bill.
Neither Heuer and Olson are employed by any environmental advocacy groups; with a degree in bio-ethics, Heuer said she was looking for something that focused on recycling.
A similar program in Iowa “seemed to work really well,” she said. “There was a lot of support, and you don’t see the beverage container litter in Iowa.
“It has about a 92 percent popular support,” Heuer said.
Actually, it’s 93 percent, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported in 2009.
Minnesota’s recycling rate is 35 percent, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
The agency — while remaining silent on the bill — is pushing to raise that figure to 80 percent by 2012.
Olson said the two have “a ton of support” at the legislative level.
Not so supportive are the members of the Minnesota Beverage Association, said President Joan Archer.
“We have historically supported and initiated recycling programs in the state,” she said, including curbside recycling and drop-off redemption centers.
But Archer believes the deposit would negatively impact those options.
The system isn’t simple enough to encourage participation, she said.
“Now you have consumers who have to return containers to get their money back,” she said. “The people who ‘get’ recycling now will continue. The people who need that nudge to recycle are the ones we’re looking to reach.”
Olson and Heuer say the deposit would simply add a recycling option.
“If (the beverage association programs) were really effective, the recycling rate would be higher than 35 percent,” Heuer said.
“We do have a commitment to curbside recycling, too, but they’re not mutually exclusive,” she continued. In fact, at a time when budget cuts have reduced the number of curbside programs around the state, options have become more limited.
Archer, however, calls the deposit a “tax,” citing the 1 to 2 percent handling fee per container.
“That’s an outright cost to the bottler,” Archer said. “We have to pay for (different) packaging, add additional infrastructure and new trucks. It’s a tremendous cost for just an incremental increase in recycling. We can’t justify those costs.”
“When it comes down to it, it’s a choice,” Heuer argued. “It’s not like a tax, where you never see it again.”
Price increases are hard to gauge, she said, “because the cost of soda fluctuates so much anyway,” from one retailer to another.
Archer believes the recycling figures from the Iowa DNR are simply inaccurate.
“You have to subtract 12 to 13 percent for fraud,” she said.
Even so, there seems to be little room for argument that the 11 states with bottle bills have significantly higher recycling rates.
According to the Container Recycling Institute, of the eight states reporting their redemption rates, Massachusetts and New York ranked the lowest, both showing 70 percent.
Should the bill pass in Minnesota, Olson estimates that an 80 percent recycling rate would create a surplus of $90 million in unclaimed deposits the first year.
The state would keep half; the other half would be distributed to local municipalities to shore up their recycling programs.
In addition, Heuer said, the results would take a significant chunk out of the $200 million the state spends each year, disposing of container waste.
A vote on the bill could come as early as this legislative session as it works through committees.
“There are big money and powerful lobbies that oppose this,” Heuer said, “but I feel like we have facts on our side.”
http://www.faribault.com/news.php?viewStory=97876
