March 9, 2011
Opinion
Expand bottle law, don't eliminate it
There is now legislation to get rid of the bottle law (“Bottle law expansion encouraged,” Feb 11). I think that is a very bad idea.
As a Green Up coordinator every year I see items that could have been recycled if the law had been expanded. Throughout Vermont other coordinators see the same, which gives Vermont a bad image. As a certified water system operator I know the damage that dumping can do to the water supply. As a selectboard member I see the costs to our town when Department of Public Works staff have to go out and pick up items. Vermont's bottle law is now behind other states like Maine and California.
Expanding the law to include non-carbonated beverages, juices, etc. is no longer enough. We need to add deposits to appliances and electronic items. Maine's bottle law includes non-carbonated beverages and California added a deposit to some electronics items. Requiring people to recycle will not be as effective when compared to giving them an incentive to bring the items in for cash.
Just like the current bottle law, a consumer pays a small deposit on an item that they purchase. Once the unit is no longer useful it can be brought to a collection center so they can get the deposit back or have someone pick it up for free (e.g. stove). A small businessman could easily make a nice profit by picking up items daily and collecting the deposit(s).
Has anyone thought about groups like the Scouts, AAU or others that have bottle drives to raise money? Are we ready to tell the children of Vermont why they can't go to camp or don't have uniforms?
Expanding the deposit law would save municipalities money because there would be fewer items to pick up along their roads. The environment would benefit because there would be less hazardous waste going into our streams and water supply. Unemployment, taxes and tourism would be positively affected. Health care could benefit as removing these items from the environment could reduce future costs because fewer people would become sick because of a cleaner environment.
I do hope that more attention will be focused on the bottle bill as it can benefit everyone in Vermont.
Jeffrey Gagne lives in Graniteville.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110309/OPINION02/103090315/1006/OPINION/My-Turn-Expand-bottle-law-don-t-eliminate-it?odyssey=nav|head
