As introduced, Oklahoma’s bottle bill is sparse on details. This is deliberate, and many changes are expected throughout the legislative session.
California Grocers Support Ban on Single-use Bags
The California Grocers Association is expressing support for a proposed law in the state legislature that would introduce a state-wide standard for disposable shopping bags.
Delaware Goes to the Dark Side
Delaware has instituted a controversial 4-cent non-refundable recycling fee to replace its 28-year-old bottle bill that required a 5-cent deposit on plastic and glass soft drink and beer bottles.
Reasons to Support your State Bottle Bill
As America becomes a increasingly “on the go” society, a bottle bill will help to capture the containers of beverages not consumed at home. We are now enjoying beverages in the park, at the beach, in our cars and at the office. With over 20 years of experience bottle laws have help to recycle an average of 75% of all beverage containers.
Texas Bottle Bill
The proposed Texas Bottle Bill for 2011 will initiate a 10¢ refundable deposit on all aluminum, glass and plastic beverage containers sold in the State of Texas.
New York City Considers Huge Recycling Legislation
New York City is looking to completely overhaul its recycling program, which would mean more materials accepted at the curb, as many as 1,000 recycling bins placed across New York’s five boroughs and an increased emphasis on collecting household hazardous waste (HHW).
Tennessee Bottle Bill – Part II
Tennessee’s (TN) proposed beverage-container deposit–the easiest, most effective Green Jobs Initiative we’ll see this year–comes before a legislative subcommittee on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. The committee members need to hear from you, the supporters. Unfortunately, they are hearing a lot of misinformation from special-interest opponents.
Most special interest groups apparently don’t understand how the new bill works; if the did they would not oppose it. Retailers, for example, would not have to use their floor space or pay employees to accept and pay back container deposits. Redemption centers that profit off their recycling sales would handle that. And, experience in other states shows, these centers would start-up (just as recycle centers would become profitable redemption centers) if the bill passes because two of the most commonly used containers — aluminum and plastic — are easily sold and highly profitable. The profits in other bottle-bill states easily offset the lagging market for glass.
Contact your Representative now:
Rep. Joe Carr–rep.joe.carr@capitol.tn.gov (Rutherford Co)
Rep.Ty Cobb–rep.ty.cobb@capitol.tn.gov (Maury Co)
Rep. Ryan Haynes–rep.ryan.haynes@capitol.tn.gov (Knox Co)
Rep. John Litz –john.litz@capitol.tn.gov (Hamblen Co)
Rep. Gerald McCormick–rep.gerald.mccormick@capitol.tn.gov (Hamilton Co)
Tell these folks why you support a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers. Be sure to include your hometown, especially if you live in one of their counties.
Strengthening California’s Bottle Bill – Part II
AB 7 will immediately restore roughly $15 million per month in core recyling funding under California’s successful Bottle Bill. Funding was cut last July forcing the closure of hundreds of centers and the loss of several hundred ‘green jobs’. If signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, AB 7 will immediately restore funding and prevent millions in further cuts to recyclers, local governments, conservation corps and other core components of California’s successful Bottle Bill.
Virginia Legislature Rejects Tax on Paper or Plastic Bags
Paper and plastic bag fee. Imposes a fee of $0.05 on paper and plastic bags used by purchasers to carry tangible personal property from the place of purchase. Durable, reusable plastic bags and bags used for ice cream, meat, fish, poultry, leftover restaurant food, newspapers, dry cleaning and prescription drugs are exempt from the fee. Retailers are allowed to retain $0.01 of the $0.05 fee or $0.02 if the retailer has a customer bag credit program. The revenues raised by the fee will be deposited in the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund. Failure to collect and remit the fee will result in fines of $250, $500, and $1,000 for the first, second, third and thereafter offenses.
Oklahoma Bottle Bill
Oklahoma State Representative Ryan Kiesel aims to implement a 5-cent beverage container deposit program in Oklahoma as a way to reduce litter and provide an infusion of much-needed cash for the budget.
State Rep. Kiesel and members of a House committee examined the issue recently at the state Capitol and says he will introduce a bill in the next legislative session.
Kiesel, D-Seminole, said the specifics have not been worked out, but the plan would require consumers to pay an extra 5 cents for each beverage container they buy, including glass bottles, aluminum cans and plastic water bottles. When consumers return the empty containers to the retailer or redemption centers, they get the deposit refunded.
He said money from unredeemed deposits could generate millions of dollars for state coffers.
“Whether you’re looking at the millions saved by reducing litter on our highways, the increase in state revenue without raising taxes, the positive environmental impact or the opportunities for economic growth, a bottle deposit program delivers on all counts,” Kiesel said.
Similar bills in recent years have not even been granted hearings in a state with a weak environmental lobby and opposition from a host of interest groups — including distributors, grocers and convenience store operators. They have expressed concern about labor costs, infrastructure needs and the sanitation issue of having used cans and bottles coming back to them.
The Oklahoma Grocers Association and a group representing convenience store operators already have come out against the plan, and the president of the powerful Oklahoma Malt Beverage Association (OMBA) said his group has opposed similar measures in the past.
“We’re taking a wait-and-see attitude, but I can tell you in the past, we’ve been opposed to it,” said OMBA President Brett Robinson. “Typically in these situations, the industry will align very quickly and be very involved in how this thing develops.”
But a few changes in the political landscape could help Kiesel get some traction on the bill this year. For the first time, a major glass manufacturer — Saint-Gobain Containers in Sapulpa — has come out in favor of the measure. Jim Bologna, the site energy manager at the plant that employs 340 workers, told the panel that because of a limited supply in Oklahoma, his company uses only 15 percent recycled glass. Most of that glass, he said, comes from Iowa, a state with a bottle-deposit program.
Kiesel also said he’s found some Republican allies, which would be helpful in moving the bill through the GOP-controlled Legislature.
Ultimately, it would come down to money, said Michael Patton, executive director of the Tulsa-based Metropolitan Environmental Trust, which operates 12 recycling businesses in northeast Oklahoma.
“There’s too much money on the table for states to ignore and there are too many jobs that would be created,” Patton said.
In Connecticut, a state with about as many residents as Oklahoma, officials anticipate their bottle-deposit law, which was recently expanded to include plastic beverage containers, will generate about $20 million annually in unclaimed deposits, said Chris Phelps, program director for Environment Connecticut.
But the redemption rate in Connecticut is nearly 80 percent, while in Oklahoma those numbers would probably be lower, Patton said. He predicted Oklahoma likely could generate close to $50 million with a similar program.
“We have one of the lowest recycling rates possible,” Patton said. “We estimate that the average Oklahoman will purchase 242 water bottles in a year. They’ll recycle 22.”
Original article written by: Sean Murphy