February 22, 2007
Lawmaker fights for updated bottle bill
By VINCE PATTON
Oregonians don't drink the same beverages, buy the same containers or pay the same prices they did in 1971. Yet the state's bottle deposit law has not changed in those 37 years.
The deposit is still 5 cents.
Only beer and soft drinks are covered.
Representative Vicki Berger, R-Salem, says it's time to update the law. "You can see the difference," says Berger. "If it's under the container legislation, if it's under the bottle bill, redemption is huge."State recycling figures back her up.
According to the department of environmental quality, 82% of all beer and soft drink containers were recycled in 2005 in Oregon. The recycle rate for water and juice bottles, which have no refundable deposit, was only 32%.
D.E.Q. estimates more than 140 million water and juice bottles would never have landed in the landfill if consumers had paid a deposit on them.
Berger wants to see the deposit rise to 10 cents per bottle and include that deposit on most recyclable beverage containers.
But grocers vow to fight. They and the powerful beverage lobbyists have managed to kill every bottle bill update proposed in the past.
This year, the Northwest Grocery Association plans not only to fight expansion of the bottle bill, they hope to kill it altogether.
Grocery Association president Joe Gilliam says, "We think we should be looking at curbside alternatives."
The grocers bear the greatest burden of handling, collecting and transporting the bottles returned to their stores. It's a messy, smelly obligation.
Says Gilliam, "We want to get this sanitation mess out of our stores and away from our consumers' food."
Instead, the grocers would like to replace the deposit law with a program patterned after the "RecycleBank" program being tested in some eastern states. It rewards people with financial credits based on how much material they recycle curbside at their homes. They would receive credit that could be spent at certain sponsoring stores, but not cash as they do now from deposits.
Rep. Berger believes the current law works best and needs to be expanded.
"We aren't drinking the same beverages in the same containers as 35 years ago," says Berger. "That's why it's time to make the adjustment."
Lawmakers have added another hearing for input on bottle bill revisions. Anyone with an opinion can testify on Tuesday, February 27 at 3pm in hearing room B at the state capitol.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_022207_news_bottle_bill.2ff4579.html
