Date unknown
Opinion
‘Bottle Bill’ long overdue
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A friend recently pondered via Facebook exactly what would become of the hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles distributed in Nashville in the aftermath of the recent fl ooding.
Unfortunately, many will probably wind up in landfi lls because Tennessee doesn’t have a statewide bottle deposit program in place. Needless to say, it needs one.
Such a program would charge a nominal deposit, a nickel has been proposed in the past, when consumers buy canned or bottled beverages. Shoppers would get their deposit back when they return the empty container, which would then be recycled.
Advocates point out that enacting such legislation would boost Tennessee’s recycling rate signifi cantly, from its presently dismal tenpercent to closer to 80.
Even trade organizations like the Aluminum Association, the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers and the Glass Packaging Institute support container deposit legislation.
It’s somewhat surprising that the groups that make the packaging materials are in favor of a bill to recycle their wares. However, recycling helps boost their bottom lines by providing quality scrap materials to keep their costs down, which can potentially save customers money.
Beverage container recycling isn’t a new idea for state lawmakers. It’s been studied considerably and numerous kinks have been worked out of the proposed legislation.
F o r i n s t a n c e , c o n t a i n e r s would be dropped off at designated r e d e m p t i o n c e n t e r s , which would be funded by the value of the scrap they collect.
This is important for a couple of key reasons. First of all, it would take retail establishments like grocery and convenience stores out of the recycling business.
More importantly it would create a selfsustaining program which would not be subject to the whims of state lawmakers faced with the reality of trying to balance a budget in the midst of a recession.
The biggest apparent hurdle to passing the container recycling legislation is concerns over bootlegging. S p e c i fi c a l l y, policymakers worry that residents of neighboring states will either save all of their recyclable bottles and cans, on which deposits weren’t paid in Tennessee, and come across the border to game the system. Or maybe Tennesseans who live in border counties will buy their canned and bottled beverages in another state and turn them in to recycle here.
Personally it’s difficult to imagine someone taking the time to load up bottles and cans and bring them to Tennessee for a nickel apiece. Assuming gas costs $2.75 a gallon, it would take 55 cans or bottles to pay for a gallon. There doesn’t seem to be much of a profi t margin in that.
Oregon passed the nation’s first container deposit legislation in 1971. Their law was amended in 2009 to add water bottles to carbonated drink and beer cans and bottles. The state Department of E nv i r o n m e n t a l Quality estimates that recycling return rates average about 90-percent.
Roadside waste has also decreased considerably in the nearly four decades that the law has been on the books. Cans and bottles used to make up about 40-percent of that state’s highway trash. Now that number is closer to six.
Unfortunately the bottle bill didn’t see the light of day during the legislative session that just concluded, having been conveniently shuffled off the legislative agenda in April of 2009.
The issue deserves serious consideration and a fair hearing from state lawmakers, especially in the wake of the recent historic and devastating fl ood.
I shudder at the thought of what probably happened to all of the bottles of water residents were urged to consume while being called on to conserve water during the aftermath of the torrential downpour. A small percentage were probably recycled, but unfortunately most likely found their way into landfi lls.
Let’s use the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in state history to make a positive change and positively affect future generations of Tennesseans.
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