July 30 2010
Texas bottle deposit bill in its early planning stages
HARRIS COUNTY — A handful of states around the country have “bottle bills,” or laws that add an extra five or ten-cent addition to the purchase of most aluminum, glass and plastic bottles. Under this law, when a customer returns their aluminum, glass or plastic bottle, their five or ten cents will be returned. California, New York, Iowa, Michigan and even Hawaii are among the states that passed this bill. Now, Texas might be the next state on the list.
According to Patsy Gillham, one of the directors of Plastic Pollution Texas, a grassroots organization in support of reducing the use of plastic, Texas will profit from a bottle bill.
“We looked at other states’ bottle deposit legislation and said Texas would be a great place to have such a thing,” Gillham said. “Now, there is a huge market for recyclable aluminum and plastic. Deposit legislation makes for great quantities of these good quality commodities.”
The idea for a bottle bill came from Mike Garvers, a Buffalo Bayou Partnership board member. Gillham said Garvers approached Plastic Pollution Texas with the idea because he wanted a better way to clean up bottle waste on Buffalo Bayou.
After listening to Garvers’ experience about cleaning up bottles on the bayou, Gillham and Plastic Pollution Texas began to develop the foundation for a bottle bill.
Through research, Plastic Pollution Texas found a bottle bill would have many environmental and financial benefits.
“Right now, you and I pay for everybody to throw their bottles into a landfill,” Gillham said. “With a bottle bill, only producers and consumers pay for the program.”
Gillham also said that a bottle bill would bring more jobs into the state of Texas. If passed, the bill would create new jobs in the recycling industry and anyone would be able to start a redemption center to collect money from used bottles.
At the July 27 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, Garvers asked the court to consider voicing their support of the bottle bill.
“Harris County pays almost $500,000 to clean up drink containers,” Garvers said.
Jerry Eversole, the commissioner of Precinct 4, immediately expressed his support for the bill.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Eversole said. “Keep us informed with what we can do to help.”
According to Cathy Sisk, the director of legislative relations for Harris County, the county’s legislative committee will discuss the bill in the near future. Then, the committee and the county will decide whether to support the bill as it makes its way through the state legislature.
Visit www.texasbottlebill.com for more information.
http://impactnews.com/northwest-houston/335-recent-news/9264-texas-bottle-deposit-bill-in-its-early-planning-stages
