Expanded bottle bill can help to reduce energy use and create new jobs?

Tag : Juice Bottle

Michigan citizens have a timely opportunity to correct a seriousproblem with litter along our state's streams, lakes, beaches androadways.
At the same time, Michiganders can help reduce energy use andcreate new jobs.
How is this possible? By contacting your state legislators andasking them to support expanding Michigan's Bottle Bill to includenon-carbonated drinks such as bottled water, sport drinks, tea andjuice containers.
The 50,000 hunters and anglers and 400 affiliated clubs that belongto the Michigan United Conservation Clubs overwhelmingly supportthis proposal. MUCC first blazed this trail in 1976 when Michigan,by a 2-to-1 voter margin, became the first state to pass a bottlelaw. The current law has been incredibly successful. Look about youas you drive a car or walk along a trail. You don't see pop andbeer cans because they're worth 10 cents each. What you do see areplenty of throw-away containers. This wasteful practice mustchange.
According to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI) , in 2005 each Michigan resident bought an average of 338 bottlesand cans of soda pop and beer for a total of 5.5 billioncontainers. More than 97 percent of those containers were recycled.Sadly, only 20 percent of the 1.4 billion empty non-fizzycontainers Michiganders consumed were recycled. Where did they go?
They ended up in landfills or were tossed out to litter our roadsand critical wildlife habitats. This is no longer acceptable.
Beverage containers can comprise more than half of litter. Forexample, last fall the New York Public Interest Research Groupconducted litter surveys at 20 sites across the state, which has abottle bill similar to Michigan's. Even though non-carbonatedbeverages make up less than 30 percent of the U.S. beverage market,containers from these products accounted for 61 percent of thebeverage container litter and 21 percent of the total littervolume.
Thirty years ago when Michigan voters approved the current law, noone drank bottled water. Sport drinks didn't exist. How things havechanged! In a 2007 report called "Water, Water Everywhere: TheGrowth of non-carbonated beverages in the United States," the CRIestimated that non-carbonated drink sales were increasing muchfaster than pop and beer sales. In fact, sales of flavored,non-fizzy beverages are expected to outsell soda pop sales by 2010.This is why we need to encourage our lawmakers to add thesecontainers to the 10-cent deposit law. And we need to do it now.
Besides helping reduce litter, expanding the Bottle Bill will: Save energy. Already we are saving 450,000 barrels of oil each year-- enough to fuel 150,000 cars for a month -- by returning beer andpop containers. Save money. The State annually spends $5.5 million to pick up emptybottles and other trash from roadsides. Create jobs. The Michigan Recycling Institute says annual sales ofrecycled commodities are nearly $2 billion. The 5,000 peopleemployed by this industry earn $137 million each year.
As debate heats up on this critical issue, you'll be hearing fromthose who oppose changing the law to include non-fizzy beverages.They will tell you that such change amounts to a tax on consumers.If that's true, then why is the "tax" refundable? Wouldn't it begreat if you could get back all your "taxes" in the same way thatcontainer deposits are refundable?
Michiganders are rightly proud of our current Bottle Bill. But thelaw needs improvement. It's time to join other states such asCalifornia, Hawaii and Maine that already have a deposit onnon-carbonated drinks.
Michigan should be next. Time is running out. Before state senatorsand representatives recess for the 4th of July holiday, residentsshould urge them to support expanding the Bottle Bill.