March 15, 2010
Consumption & conservation
Will state lawmakers preserve 'bottle bill' or trash it?
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| Kyle Fortman deposits his weekly recycling in the bins at the West 8th Street recycling center Sunday. Staff photo by Thomas Johns |
A state lawmaker representing Maury County will play a major role Tuesday in deciding whether a proposed 5-cent deposit on beverage containers gets crushed once again by the Legislature this year.
State Rep. Ty Cobb, D-Columbia, is among six lawmakers who will vote on whether to move legislation known as the bottle bill out of the State Government Subcommittee, a crucial stop before bills reach the full House for a vote.
Marge Davis, a Mt. Juliet resident who has led efforts to pass a bottle bill, said Cobb could make a major difference in whether the measure receives a vote by the full House this year.
“We consider his vote to be crucial,” she said.
Cobb is remaining mum on whether he will support the bottle bill and has not revealed how he plans to vote.
The legislation has been submitted each year since 2005, but it has died every time in subcommittee. Under the measure, Tennesseans would return their empty aluminum, glass and plastic beverage containers to a network of redemption centers and reclaim a 5-cent deposit they paid when they purchased the container.
PROS & CONS
Supporters say the legislation will increase recycling rates, reduce roadside litter and create jobs for the state. Opponents argue a bottle deposit is a tax that has not been effective in other states of achieving the goals touted by proponents.
Cobb said he still has questions about why more states have not enacted deposit laws. Eleven states — none of which are in the Southeast — presently have deposits on beverage containers.
“It’s kind of a balancing act to see what is best,” Cobb said. “Both sides have valid points.”
Cobb said he isn’t sure that the bottle bill would result in less litter on the state’s roadsides. He also worries it will lead to people from out of state bringing containers to Tennessee to collect the deposit.
The Columbia Democrat says he favors investigating ways state government could aid curbside recycling programs, such as the one Columbia is considering implementing.
Davis, who is coordinator of the Tennessee Bottle Bill Project, said container deposits would provide a variety of benefits to Maury County. Tennessee Aluminum Processors Inc. and Smelter Service Corp. — two Mt. Pleasant companies that recycle aluminum — would see increased business, she said.
Bill Toler, president of Smelter Service, said states with deposits have much higher aluminum recycling rates than states that do not. But he stopped short of endorsing Tennessee’s bottle bill proposal, saying he had not read the legislation.
Toler said the country on average recycles 60 percent of aluminum cans, but states with container deposits typically recycle 80 percent.
Davis said redemption centers could be operated by entrepreneurs, scrap dealers, local businesses, nonprofit organizations or local governments, creating additional jobs for the area.
A STAMP OF APPROVAL
Local efforts helped to provide momentum for the bottle bill. In January 2008, the Maury County Commission voted 15-5 in favor of a resolution urging the Tennessee General Assembly to pass the measure. Cobb was on the commission when the vote was taken, but he was absent from the January commission meeting.
An eclectic group of citizens urged county commissioners to voice approval for the measure. A local farmer, a biologist and a representative of the local NAACP were among citizens who attended the meeting in which the commission considered the matter.
Stephen Worley, a Hampshire farmer, has been vocal in supporting the bottle bill.
During a recent walk through one of his wheat fields, Worley found four beer containers in a 50-yard stretch. Not only are cans and bottles an eyesore but they can also puncture expensive tractor tires, he said.
The Hampshire farmer says he thinks motorists would think twice about tossing a can out the window if there were a deposit.
“It gives people an incentive to do what they ought to do in the first place,” he said.
But not everyone thinks a deposit is the solution to the state’s litter problems. Kyle Fortman, a Columbia resident, said he has lived in a state with a bottle deposit law.
As he tossed his cans into a recycling bin behind Columbia’s post office, Fortman said he wasn’t sure whether the deposit made much of a difference.
“I am not the biggest fan of it,” he said.
http://www.c-dh.net/articles/2010/03/15/top_stories/01bottle.txt
