December 1, 2010

“Bottle Bill” law dies tomorrow as Universal Recycling Law takes effect

The controversial “Bottle Bill” law, which for nearly 30 years has required Delaware consumers to pay a five-cent deposit on selected beverage containers, will be eliminated tomorrow.  Replacing it will be an equally controversial universal recycling law that imposes a four-cent non-refundable fee on the same beverage containers to pay for the implementation of statewide curbside recycling.
 
Set to expire in late 2014, the fee will finance the creation of a new Delaware Recycling Fund.  The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) will issue grants and low-interest loans from the fund to help private waste-haulers and municipalities deal with the program’s start-up costs.  According to an analysis by the Controller General’s office, the program will cost a minimum of $16 million to initiate.
 
State Rep. Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View) calls the new fee “Delaware’s first sales tax” and doubts it’ll expire as planned.  “This has been a no sales tax state,” he said.  “We have been very proud of that.  It has brought business in from neighboring states and now we’re changing that with this new law.  This fee is supposed to be sunsetted after four years, but I haven’t seen any taxes go away yet.”
 
Rep. Hocker, who operates several Sussex County retail stores, also says state officials have not fully prepared distributors and retailers for the end of the Bottle Bill.  “Most Sussex County stores are supplied by soda distributors in Maryland.  They tell me they have not received the transition materials DNREC promised them.  Some retailers have paid out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in container deposits that they’re due back from the distributors.  This is a big deal and it looks like store owners are going to have to scramble to take last minute inventories tonight.  I feel the administration has really let them down.”
 
He adds that it’ll take months for bottles labeled as deposit containers to make their way through the supply pipeline and off store shelves, potentially causing problems for retailers and consumers alike.
 
The new law is the work of Gov. Jack Markell, who has embraced fostering jobs through the growth of “green” industries as one of the guiding principles of his administration.  However, it’s unclear how many jobs the universal recycling program will produce, or what the nature of the new positions will be.
 
The law will require every waste-hauler in the state to offer curbside recycling to their customers in three stages: first to single-family homes (by Sept. 15, 2011); then apartments and condominiums (Jan. 1, 2013); and finally commercial businesses (Jan. 1, 2014).
 
The Markell administration says the goal is to divert 50-percent of municipal solid waste from landfills by the start of 2015.  That goal rises to 60-percent in 2020.
 
Although participation in the recycling program remains voluntary, the bill contains a provision that if diversion goals are not achieved, DNREC and a new recycling advisory council could propose “any additional mechanism necessary” to reduce the amount of waste heading to landfills, including the implementation of a “Pay As You Throw” program and waste bans.
 
Repeatedly described by supporters as a “fragile compromise,” the recycling law (Senate Bill 234) was fast-tracked through the General Assembly, taking just three weeks from its introduction to final passage.  The bill was enacted, despite concerns over its legality, efficiency, and transparency.
 
The new law specifically bars waste-haulers from telling their customers how much of their bill is the result of recycling.  An amendment, sponsored by State Reps. Greg Lavelle (R-Sharpley) and Dan Short (R-Seaford), that would have allowed Delawareans to see the cost of recycling as a separate line item on their waste collection bills was defeated along party lines.
 
“Why would you actually prohibit customers from knowing this?” Rep. Lavelle said.  “If you’re confident the program will work as advertised, and will be supported by the public, why hide the costs?  It flies in the face of the ‘open government’ initiatives this administration claims to support.  Consumer choice works best in an environment of full and open information."
 
Another amendment, which would have reduced the beverage container fee to one-cent, while broadening the scope of the containers to which it would have been applied, was also defeated.  Currently, only about 25-percent of beverage containers (plastic and glass soft drink and beer bottles) are subject to the fee, creating a potential legal issue because of the selective and arbitrary way in which it’s levied.
 
Many also believe the law was enacted in violation of a state constitutional mandate that requires that any bill that seeks to appropriate state funds to municipalities or corporations – something the law will do by issuing grants and low-interest loans via the Delaware Recycling Fund – to be approved by a three-quarters vote of both chambers of the General Assembly.  Although this objection was raised when the bill was debated in the House, it cleared the chamber on a vote of 26 to 12 -- five votes short of a three-quarters majority.
 
The law is currently facing a legal challenge from the Positive Growth Alliance on this procedural issue and other grounds.
 
As the Bottle Bill law ends, consumer and retailers will still need to deal with some outstanding issues.  Consumers will have until January 31st to get refunds on bottles for which they paid a deposit before December 1st.   Retailers will have until February 28th to redeem the deposit bottles they’ve collected and get credited by their distributors.
 
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has set up a website to answer questions about the old Bottle Bill and the new recycling law at: www.recycling.delaware.gov.

http://www.sussexcountian.com/lifestyle/family/x1790513927/-Bottle-Bill-law-dies-tomorrow-as-Universal-Recycling-Law-takes-effect