Australia
June 15, 2011 The Greens will today test if the Coalition in government stays true to its commitment in opposition to support a 10¢ refund scheme for bottles and cans in Victoria. Greens MP Colleen Hartland will introduce the details of new bottle-refund laws to the upper house of Victoria’s Parliament — the Coalition voted in favour of a similar bill introduced by the Greens in 2009 that was blocked by the former Labor government. The Age.
June 20, 2011 There is overwhelming support in Tasmania for container deposit legislation, a survey has found. An EMRS poll of 1000 Tasmanians has found 91 per cent agreed with the introduction of such a scheme. The Mercury
June 21, 2011 The successful passage of the Product Stewardship Act in the Senate last week, is a welcome change to the arid waste policy scene that has pervaded national politics for years, according to the Total Environment Centre (TEC). The Act is designed to provide the architecture for industries looking to self-manage the environmental, health and safety impacts of their products. Also last week, the House of Representatives passed the Carbon Farming Initiative. Inside Waste Weekly
USA
June 17, 2011 The Department of Agriculture today announced the publication of a proposed rule to strengthen program integrity of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by ending the practice called "water dumping." US Department of Agriculture
June 17, 2011 "'Water dumping' involves buying beverages [with food stamp credits] that require a container deposit and immediately dumping out the contents in order to return the container and receive the deposit credit in cash.” The new proposed rule would make the dumpage "a trafficking offense and could result in a recipient's disqualification." Chicago Tribune
Oregon
June 22, 2011 Earlier this month, Gov. John Kitzhaber signed a bottle bill expansion that would increase the refundable amount to 10 cents per recyclable can or bottle by 2015. Three other bills are waiting in the legislature which may further affect the bottle bill, said Christie Scott, public affairs for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, and many things are not spelled out about it yet. Lebanon Express
Maine
June 20, 2011 With the legislative session coming to a close, Environment Maine Director Emily Figdor released the following statement today evaluating the actions of the 125th Legislature on Maine’s environment: “Governor LePage came out of the gates swinging, taking aim at Maine’s environmental protections. Fortunately, the Legislature largely rejected his efforts to weaken the rules protecting Maine’s air, land, water, and coasts. Environment Maine
