Two bills
add water bottles and more; increased revenue, cleaner
streets
HARTFORD – The leaders of the
state Senate and the Environment Committee today unveiled
a plan to substantially expand Connecticut’s decades-old
bottle bill in a manner which will both protect and
enhance the state’s environmental quality while
simultaneously expanding its revenue base.
The Environment Committee has raised two new bottle
bills: a so-called “regular” bill (SB 662)
which applies to water bottles only, and an “expanded”
bill (SB 661) which applies to most all non-carbonated
beverages (except milk), such as water, sports drinks,
bottled coffees and teas, and fruit drinks.
Both bills are awaiting a public hearing before the
Environment Committee.
While exact revenue estimates have not yet been determined,
the Container Recycling Institute of Glastonbury, CT
has estimated that adding water bottles to Connecticut’s
existing 5-cent bottle deposit law would bring $12.1
million in new revenue to the state annually. Also,
the non-partisan state Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated
that under last year’s similar bill (sSB 357),
municipalities would save up to $400,000 in Connecticut
Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA) tipping fees in 2010,
since there would be less curbside recycling to haul
away and less “tonnage” for towns to pay
for.
“While this is not a new proposal, I believe there
is a new sense of urgency for an expanded bottle bill
that will improve Connecticut’s environment and
its budget,” Senate President Donald E.
Williams, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) said. “Sometimes
a crisis can provide an opportunity – and that’s
exactly what this is. I look forward to working with
our Republican colleagues in the legislature to get
this important bill passed into law.”
“Connecticut’s original redemption policy
never anticipated the explosion in consumption of bottled
water, teas and sports drinks that the industry has
experienced over the past several years,’’
Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Southport),
a Ranking Member of the Environment Committee, said.
“It is past time for a common-sense expansion
of our bottle bill and since water and other single-serve
beverages are often packaged in the same containers
as carbonated beverages, the infrastructure is already
in place to make this change.”
“This is the year for water bottles and teas
and sports drinks to be added to the list of redeemable
containers here in Connecticut,” Sen.
Ed Meyer (D-Guilford), the Senate Chairman
of the Environment Committee, said. “It’s
good for the environment not just because it removes
trash from our rivers and roadsides, but because it
extends the life of our landfills, saves cities and
towns money in trash-tipping fees, and puts glass and
plastic back to use as recycled consumer goods. Connecticut
has been a national leader in this regard and now it’s
time to lead the way once again with an expanded bottle
bill.”
“I think we have a unique opportunity to add water
bottles to the mix,” Rep. Richard Roy
(D-Milford), the House Chairman of the Environment
Committee, said. “The biggest problem is that
these bottles are being used by more and more people,
but without an incentive to bring these bottles home
or to a store for redemption, they are becoming litter
along roadways, in parks and on beaches.”
Connecticut’s bottle bill was enacted by the legislature
in April 1978 and implemented on January 1, 1980. In
its first 25 years, it is estimated that Connecticut
has prevented 20 billion bottles and cans from ending
up as litter, and has saved more than 1.3 million tons
of otherwise recyclable material from being tossed onto
streets and into streams, buried in landfills, or incinerated.
The proposed “expanded” bill specifically
defines a “non-carbonated beverage” as water
and other noncarbonated, nonalcoholic and nondairy drinks
in liquid form intended for human consumption, but excluding
liquid in syrup or concentrated form, a minor flavoring
ingredient in food or drink, a seafood, meat or vegetable
broth soup, or soy milk or rice milk.
Both proposed bills apply only to carbonated beverages
of 2 liters or less in size, and to noncarbonated beverages
of 20 ounces or less in size. Both bills also contain
provisions for:
• increasing the per-bottle deposit from 5 cents
to 10 cents;
• increasing the redemption center handling fee
to 3 cents per container;
• requiring redemption centers that are established
or expanded after October 1, 2009 to locate those centers
near the main entrance of the business.
Connecticut is one of 11 states in the country with
a bottle redemption law; those laws vary from 5 cents
to 15 cents per container, depending on the size and
type. For example, Michigan charges 10 cents for all
containers; Maine and Vermont charge 15 cents on liquor
containers and 5 cents on all others; and California
charges 10 cents on containers greater than 24 ounces
and 5 cents on smaller ones. Most all of these 11 states
charge redemption for beer, carbonated soft drinks and
mineral water, but some states also impose a redemption
fee on coffee and tea (Hawaii) or on all beverages except
dairy products and unprocessed cider (Maine). Effective
January 1 of this year, Oregon expanded its nearly 40-year-old
bottle redemption law to include bottled water.
Ten other states are currently considering instituting
their own bottle redemption laws, including Arizona,
Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Under the proposed bills, Connecticut will significantly
increase the per-container handling fee paid to redemption
centers from 1.5 cents for beer and 2 cents for all
other beverages, to 3 cents for all beverages. If approved,
Connecticut would pay one of the highest handling fees
in the nation, behind Maine and Vermont (3.5 cents)
but well ahead of others, which range from 1 cent to
2.25 cents per container, or even none at all (Michigan
and Oregon.)
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