September 8. 2007

The bottle refund law:
What it is, how it works

The Michigan bottle refund law was first enacted by a vote of the citizens in 1976 as a means to encourage recycling and to specifically reduce beverage container litter along highways, lakes and rivers, and on other public or private properties. Other reasons the state cited were to extend the life of landfills, to help support environmental efforts and also to lessen the public safety hazard of broken glass on sidewalks and streets.

How it works:

When you buy a bottle or can of something, it's likely not new to the world of commerce, passing through several hands before coming into your life and quenching your thirst.

A wholesaler will purchase the goods from a manufacturer or bottling company. The wholesaler will then sell the product to a retailer, like your local convenience store, a gas station or the grocery. When the retailer purchases the bottles, they will pay the 10-cent deposit to the wholesaler, kind of like a place holder. You then wander into the retail outlet, purchase your beverage and pay for the deposit and presumably return it when empty for the 10 cents.

The retailer then takes the bottle, returns it to the wholesaler and recoups the deposit - coming full circle. The wholesaler then crushes and recycles them or moves them to a company that does.

It's when those cans or bottles aren't returned that the state makes money. The wholesalers send any profit back to the state to be deposited in the Cleanup and Redevelopment Fund which helps pay for programs like brownfield redevelopment and recycling efforts. Retailers also get a cut. They are given 25 percent of the overlap. So for every $1 in bottle deposits left unclaimed, the state receives 75 cents and the retailers will receive 25 cents.

Rep. Kate Ebli, D-Monroe, said that with bottles coming across state lines, that system gets skewed. Wholesalers could eventually be paying more in returns than they are selling. The state would cover 75 percent of the overages while the retailers would be responsible for 25 percent of the loss.

http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/NEWS01/109080037/-1/NEWS