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May 3, 2008
State of Recycling
Broaden the bottle bill
By Tim Faulker
Staff photo by MIKE GAY
Bob Cushing recycles glass bottles Saturday at the Raynham Transfer Station.
The numbers are staggering: According to the federal government, 350 million bottles and cans are thrown away each day across the country; 100 billion aluminum cans are sold each year, and less than half of them are recycled.
With all of the attention global warming, Earth Day and green living has received in recent years, consumer recycling of bottles, cans, paper and metal continues to drop.
As one of 11 states with a bottle redemption law, Massachusetts stays above the national average for recycling. Enacted in 1983, the “bottle bill” tacked a 5 cent redemption fee on bottles and cans containing fizzy beverages like soda, mineral water, beer and malt liquor. Exempt from the nickel fee were non-carbonated containers of water, juice, iced tea and sports energy drinks, which now account for a third of all drinks sold nationally.
To help improve the stagnant recycling numbers, state Rep. Alice Wolf, D-Cambridge, introduced a bill to include the flat beverages in the bottle bill while increasing the redemption fee to 10 cents. Recently, however, the bill was paired back and replaced by an amendment to the existing bill, dropping the five cent increase.
The amendment, Wolf contends, would generate $10 million in state revenue from uncollected deposits. State Senator Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, has not endorsed the plan, preferring to support a broad environmental overhaul that includes reducing many items from the overall waste stream, in addition to gaining participation from business and community leaders. It’s an approach that is also endorsed by Gov. Deval Patrick.
“I would prefer not just expanding the bottle bill, but to go further,” Pacheco said.
Recycling is only one part of a societal shift that will be needed to combat global warming and its costly side effects.
“We have a long, long way to go,” he said, “It’s not like we can’t do it.” But like the salvage drives during World War II, “We need a common cause at a national level.”
In Washington, U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey filed the Bottle Recycling Climate Protection Act, a national bottle bill, last November. The bill sites mammoth statistics about consumer waste and the benefits of recycling, including the fact that nine out of ten water bottles end up in landfills or an incinerator. As well, states with bottle bills recycle between 60-90 percent of beverages containers compared to the national average of 34 percent.
According to the Washington-based Container Recycling Institute, the national recycling rate has declined considerably from a high of 52 percent in 1992, while waste has increased by 50 percent.
Maine is one of three states requiring non-carbonated containers in their bottle redemption program. Opponents of the program, such as the grocery store industry and beverage makers, have long considered the redemption fee a tax, and claim containers from non-bottle bill states draw money from the program. But the Maine program has delivered a 93 percent redemption rate, and has used redemption methods that have helped reduce cross-border fraud.
Across Massachusetts, about half of the 351 communities offer curbside recycling. About 66 percent of all beverage containers are redeemed and the state average of recycled material is at 37 percent, up from ten years ago, but not improving much in the last five years.
In the Taunton area, recycling numbers are mixed. As of 2006, only Dighton (37 percent) and Rehoboth (69 percent) are at or above the state average for the percent of consumer waste recycled. Taunton (22 percent), Raynham (32 percent) and Middleboro (14 percent) are well behind the mean and far from the 56 percent target set for 2010 by the Department of Environmental Planning.
At the bottle redemption facility located outside the Stop & Shop on Route 44 in Raynham, recylcers are in favor of expanding the redemption program.
“I think the water companies like everyone else should be forced to use the same bottles,” said Suzan DiCroce of Berkley.
The town doesn’t offer curbside trash pickup and budget issues have forced the town to open two days each week.
“It’s not very convenient,” she said. “We’re not very green.”
Elizabeth Squizzero of Raynham was emptying three-weeks worth of empties into one of the six reverse vending machines.
“There are so many other things that come in plastic bottles these day,” she said.
Raynham does not offer curbside service, but she pays a company to pick up her trash from home.
“It’s either that or go to the dump,” she said.
Two years ago, Middleboro began charging residents for trash service at a cost of $18 per month or trash bag stickers costing $1.25 and $2.50.
In 2006, Middleboro residents only recycled 14 percent of their trash, a number that is on the rise, said clerk Kathi Fuller.
“Especially now that they are paying for their rubbish, you see a lot more recycling,” she said.
The DEP has supported past efforts to broaden the bottle bill, but they remain undecided on the current amendment, instead focusing on diverting construction and food waste from the waste stream.
“We’re looking at the whole picture,” said DEP spokesman Joe Ferson.
While costs go up for raw materials like paper, aluminum and glass, added revenue from recycled material can help offset the costs of going green.
“It makes sense now more than ever to recycle,” Ferson said.
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