Apr. 8, 2011
Bill would expand Oregon's bottle bill
Redemption centers and 10-cent deposit part of proposal
Two Salem lawmakers Thursday launched the latest effort to expand Oregon's bottle bill.
Rep. Vicki Berger, a Republican, and Senate President Peter Courtney, a Democrat, appeared together before the House Energy, Environment and Water Committee to promote changes in the 40-year-old law that made Oregon first in the nation to take a step toward recycling.
"We don't leave our campsites dirty; we clean up our campsites," Courtney said. "To me, this bill is philosophically and metaphorically about that."
House Bill 3145 would increase the 5-cent deposit for bottles and cans to 10 cents, expand the requirement to sports drinks and teas, and move to redemption centers for containers. Chief sponsors are Berger and Rep. Ben Cannon, D-Portland, the committee co-chairman.
"The bottle bill seems simple, until you really start looking at it," Berger told the committee. "There are a lot of complicated moving parts in there. It isn't simple; it just seems simple."
Berger said afterward she is most interested in setting up a pilot project for redemption centers, which are used in other states to handle containers.
"My main focus is to set up such a project to get some recalcitrant out-of-state retailers to participate in an Oregon redemption-center system more fully," she said, although she declined to name the retailers.
Berger's father was Richard Chambers, who originated the idea that became law in 1971.
"It was my father's personal legacy to Oregon," Berger said. "But it isn't just his. The citizens of Oregon own their bottle bill in a very real way."
Despite many proposals over the years, lawmakers declined to change the law substantially until 2007, when water and flavored-water containers were added to the deposit. It also set up a task force to study further changes, but lawmakers chose not to act in 2009.
Berger said she expects amendments but is optimistic that a bill will pass.
"I have reached the conclusion that we have got to increase the number of cans and bottles coming back," said Courtney, who based some of his statements on observations at the Fred Meyer store on Broadway NE in Salem.
"But we have to make a major concession. We have to go for significant redemption centers. I never thought I would say that, because I was so concerned that if we did, the return rate would go down. I don't see any other way out of this situation."
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110408/STATE/104080340/Bill-would-expand-state-s-bottle-bill?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News
