May 5, 2011
House approves bottle bill revisions
The proposal, which now heads to the Senate, would expand deposits on beverages
SALEM — The Oregon House convincingly approved on Wednesday a bill that would make the most significant changes to the state’s bottle deposit system since its historic inception in 1971.
House Bill 3145, one of the major pieces of environmental and consumer legislation before the Legislature this session, would require a deposit on many more types of beverage containers, would start the shift toward Oregonians taking their containers to large redemption centers instead of retailers’ in-store collection points and would increase the deposit to a dime if redemption rates for a given material fell below 80 percent for two consecutive years after 2016.
The bill passed on a 47-12 vote and now heads to the Senate.
Proponents of the bill see the changes as key updates to keep the bottle deposit system effective.
Redemption rates have fallen, they say, because a nickel isn’t worth what it was in 1971 and many Oregonians view the redemption system as inconvenient.
“For as much as it is a container recycling or litter reduction program, the bottle bill is a potent symbol of what it means to be an Oregonian: wasting little, tending carefully to our resources, leaving the campsite better than we found it,” said Rep. Ben Cannon, D-Portland, one of the bill’s sponsors. “With House Bill 3145 … we have an opportunity to create this experience for more generations of Oregonians.”
The lone dissenting voice on the floor Wednesday came from Rep. Matt Wingard, R-Wilsonville, who said he is still “hung up” on the potential increase of the deposit to 10 cents if redemption rates fall below 80 percent.
“I know that there has been a lot of conversation that (the deposit) will never go to 10 cents,” Wingard said. “I’ve had my own experiences with government over the last 15 years and, frankly, I just believe that if it’s there, it will happen.”
Such a deposit increase for low-priced items could hurt consumers, he added.
But Rep. Vicki Berger, R-Salem, another sponsor of the bill, testified that she thinks once the new consumer-convenient redemption centers open, redemption rates won’t fall far enough to trigger the deposit increase.
“We won’t ever get to a dime, I really believe it,” she said. “It’s a matter of the convenience of getting these products out of the waste stream and into a re-use and recycle stream.”
The expansion of the list of containers on which a deposit would be required would take effect at the lastest by 2018.
Current law requires deposits on carbonated soft drinks, beer, malt liquor, soda water, plain water and flavored water.
The expansion would cover non-carbonated drinks such as fruit juices, coffee and tea, but still exclude a few drinks such as wine, liquor and milk.
HB 3145 is the latest in a long list of proposed ideas to update Oregon’s bottle bill, most of which have failed.
Supporters hope that, after countless compromises and numerous amendments, the proposal’s bipartisan backing will pay off and the bill will become law this session.
“When you can get people of goodwill with completely different ideas on how we should recycle in this state to come to terms, I think you ought to take a close look … at what’s been done,” said Rep. Vic Gilliam, R-Silverton.
http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/26206707-41/bill-deposit-redemption-bottle-increase.html.csp
