The next time you see someone dumpster-diving, don’t laugh. What’s one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, especially when the bottle-deposit law system, also known as the “bottle bill,” becomes law. Senate Bill 1611, which offers a five-cent return deposit
The next time you see someone dumpster-diving, don’t laugh.
What’s one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, especially when the bottle-deposit law system, also known as the “bottle bill,” becomes law.
Senate Bill 1611, which offers a five-cent return deposit for glass, plastic, and aluminum beverage containers beginning January 1, 2005, is expected to become law today, making the 38 million beverage containers that pass through Kaua‘i each year worth $1.9 million.
“It’s really a good incentive to get people to recycle,” said Terry Telfer, president of Reynolds Recycling, Inc.
As of last night, Gov. Linda Lingle was still deliberating whether to sign, veto, or not sign the bill and let it become law without her signature, a spokesman said. It would make Hawai‘i the 11th state to boast a bottle bill.
Experts predict the bill will boost recycling rates from about 30 percent to as high as 85 percent for plastic, aluminum and paper products. Milk, wine and spirits are exempt.
It’s good news for recyclers, who’ve seen stagnant numbers for years now, despite a decade of public-service announcements appealing to Hawai‘i residents’ heartstrings to recycle.
Now, the profit motive should drive people to do the right thing by Mother Earth, say environmentalists.
“The bottle bill will literally change the landscape of Hawai‘i,” said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter. “Hawai‘i can now look forward to cleaner beaches, less broken glass and less trash going to our landfills.”
Reynolds recycling plant at Nawiliwili, like Kaua‘i’s Garden Isle Disposal and statewide Island Recycling are poised to profit from the bill that should drive deposit-hungry recyclers to “redemption” sites around the island and at major island stores.
“We should have redemption sites set up in every major town on Kaua‘i,” Telfer said.
Reynolds and Hawai‘i’s other recyclers sell plastic to places like China, where it is used for computer terminals and even Reebok shoes. Aluminum carries a much higher value, and nearly half of all aluminum cans in the state are already recycled because of their value.
This bill will make cans even more attractive — and lucrative. Aluminum is processed quickly, usually within eight weeks, and comes back here in sheets to be made into cans and other containers for Hawai‘i-based beverage companies, Telfer said.
Opponents of the bottle bill had argued that the bill would pass high costs — and hassles — onto local retailers, and, ultimately, onto consumers.
But a clause in the bill gives retailers on Kaua‘i and the other Neighbor Islands a break by not requiring that local retailers accept the cans, plastic and glass. In other words, by not requiring retailers here to be “redemption sites,” the argument that the bill would burden retailers with the costs of collecting, sorting and storing recyclables appears to be moot — at least for the time being.
“If this becomes a big enough program so that the existing facilities are no longer sufficient, where are you going to put all this stuff?” asked Mamo Cummings, president of the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce. “If it gets big enough, I don’t think Neighbor Island retailers will be exempt anymore. In Oregon, the bottle program worked well. But retailers there had huge places, and the manpower to divide up the cans.
“The altruistic goals are fine, but I don’t believe this program was well thought out,” Cummings said.
Reynolds’ Telfer insists that they, along with Kaua‘i’s other recyclers, should have no problem processing Kaua‘i’s recyclables.
O‘ahu, however, sees the bulk of the state’s 800 million beverage bottles, and the state’s mandate to retailers there means that retailers will almost immediately be forced to take in what local recycling companies simply cannot.
Representatives from the state Department of Health will be on Kaua‘i next week to determine how the state and county can best work together to make recycling attractive to Kauaians.
The program works like this: a distributor pays the state DOH five cents per each beverage container. The distributor then collects from the retailer, who collects from the consumer, who redeems from the recycler or at the redemption site.
Collectors will typically pay up to $75 in cash, or take in about 1,500 cans, and while recycling companies will pay out in cash, stores could pay with vouchers.
“Reverse-vending” machines could be stationed in front of stores, where vouchers would be offered in exchange for cans and bottles.
Any deposits not redeemed would remain in DOH coffers.
“If we find we’re getting a lot left and not redeemed, then we’ll see about dropping the Advanced Disposal Fee,” said Jennifer Posaki, recycling coordinator for the DOH.
The disposal fee is that one-cent charged each distributor per container to pay for the state’s existing recycling program, which is now often passed to the consumer. If dropped, consumer prices for beverages could theoretically decline.
Meanwhile, environmentalists expect that, while not the final solution to Hawai‘i’s trash problem, the bottle bill will have a huge, positive impact.
“Bottle bills work,” said Mikulina. “They provide a real incentive for people to recycle and an incentive not to litter. The 10 states with bottle bills found that bottle and can litter has virtually disappeared.”
Redemption centers should be in operation by October, and will be accepting non-deposit containers to put their systems through dry runs. The state is considering an incentive program to get things started.
The original “bottle bill” passed the 2002 state Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Ben Cayetano.
On average, 75,000 beverage containers are thrown in the trash or littered every hour in Hawai‘i, Mikulina said.
In addition to the new bottle law, House Bill 2074 CD1 is expected to become law today, ensuring that small businesses cannot get around penalties for violations of environmental or cultural laws.
Under existing small-business law, agencies are required to reduce or waive penalties for companies with less than 100 employees that violate laws protecting Hawai‘i’s natural or cultural resources.
One measure that won’t be taking effect tomorrow is the coastal light pollution bill, HB1743 SD2.
The bill would have prohibited artificial lights from shining out onto the ocean. The governor sent a message of intent to veto the bill on June 15. Conservation groups strongly advocated for the measure as a means to decrease bird fatalities and other impacts to threatened or endangered species caused by ocean lighting.
Environmentalists argue that fledgling shearwaters, nocturnal flying sea birds and migratory birds, nesting turtles, and even coral-reef spawning, can be adversely affected by bright coastal lights.
Phil Hayworth, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or phayworth@pulitzer.net.
