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May 13, 2008

New Jersey Weighs Charging Recycling Deposit on Drink Bottles
By Terrence Dopp

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey, often conjuring images of a dumping ground for garbage and industrial waste, would become the 12th U.S. state to impose refundable deposits on drink containers under legislation aimed at boosting recycling.

The measure is modeled after a deposit law in Michigan, which has a 97 percent recycling rate for glass bottles and aluminum cans. New Jersey's rate has dipped to 32 percent from a peak of 50 percent in the 1990s, said state Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, sponsor of the so-called Smart Container Act.

``This is one way we as people in this state can do our part in cleaning up the environment, increasing recycling and bringing money back to the state,'' said Vainieri Huttle, an Englewood Democrat, in an interview. ``It really is a small price to pay.''

Vainieri Huttle's bill was the subject of a packed hearing yesterday by the Assembly environment and solid waste committee. Legislative debate on the measure will resume in late 2008, said Derek Roseman, a spokesman for the Assembly Democrats.

California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont have similar laws, according to the Container Recycling Institute. The organization said the national rate for recycling drink bottles was 44 percent in 2000 while most states with deposit laws have rates of more than 80 percent.

Governor Jon Corzine, a first-term Democrat, said a so- called bottle bill would provide an economic incentive for consumers to recycle drink bottles and pick up litter.

``In general, I think we need to renew our vigor with regard to recycling, and I think that's what this bill would do,'' the governor, 61, told reporters yesterday. ``In concept I'm in favor of it, and I'll have to look at the details of it.''

Unclaimed Deposits

Vainieri Huttle's bill would impose a deposit of 10 cents on plastic and glass bottles and aluminum cans less than 24 ounces (0.68 kilograms) and 20 cents on bigger containers. It would force distributors to pay the initial deposit and have retailers collect it and reimburse distributors.

Consumers would receive a refund by returning the bottles to designated centers. The state would keep 75 percent of the unclaimed deposits, while the rest would go to retailers and redemption centers. The state's share would go toward costs of administering the program and financing grants for environmental projects such as litter cleanup, Vainieri Huttle said.

Currently, California, Massachusetts and Michigan collect 100 percent of the unclaimed deposits, while in all other deposit states, the bottlers and distributors keep that money, according to the Container Recycling Institute.

'Unfair Burden'

Opponents of New Jersey's proposal include soft drink companies. Barbara McConnell, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association, said as a member of the Assembly in the late 1970s, she sponsored and withdrew a bottle bill. She said she represents drink makers.

``It's an unfair burden on retailers, consumers and especially small businesses,'' she said. ``It's not an effective solution for litter.''

Wayne DeFeo of DeFeo Associates, a Warren, New Jersey-based environmental and recycling consulting firm, said the state curbside pickup programs put into place some 30 years ago increased recycling by making it easier.

A bottle deposit would prompt people to bypass municipal recycling programs and rob local governments of needed money generated through the sale of scrap aluminum, said DeFeo, whose clients include municipalities and waste-disposal companies.

``After three decades of moving toward making recycling easier, this is a huge step back,'' DeFeo told the Assembly panel. ``We've evolved into one of the most successful programs in the country. We don't want to go back.''

David Pringle, campaign director for the New Jersey Environmental Federation, compared the opposition to bottle deposits by retailers and soft drink makers to initial resistance by car manufacturers to the mandates of seat belts and catalytic converters.

``They can't handle change, and they're more concerned with special interests than the public interest,'' Pringle said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.