|
December 12, 2006
Bottle Bill Returns
The Bottle Bill is back. A joint legislative committee met Monday and heard the
pros and cons of adding a tax to all bottles and cans sold in West Virginia.
It’s a bill that’s been rolling around for a couple years.
The plan would require shoppers to pay a 10-cent tax on every bottle or can.
When the customer returned those bottles and cans to authorized recycling
centers around the state that 10-cents would be returned to the customer.
South Charleston Mayor Ritchie Robb is a big fan of recycling and says the
Bottle Bill is a great way to clean up his town and WV. “It works. It beautifies
the state.” Robb says it would also save money. Currently South Charleston pays
three employees to pick up glass bottles, plastic container and metal cans to
the tune of $100,000 a year. He says get rid of the cans and you get rid of that
bill.
But Greg Sayre the Executive Director of the Association of Independent
Professional Recyclers says he and several groups he represents are 100-percent
against the Bottle Bill. He says the biggest myth about the plan is that it
would save the state money. “I think what you’re going to have is many counties
where people are charged a dime and they may have to drive 50-miles to get their
dime back.” Sayre says the bill would impact those with the least amount of
money to spare. “Who are those people going to be? They’re going to be senior
citizens, they’re going to be people in rural counties that are not going to
have any outlets for this material.”
Sayre says the authorized recycling center would take away business from current
independent recyclers, hurting or in some cases putting those recyclers out of
business all together.
Senate and House members listened to more than an hour of testimony and asked a
few questions. But no decision is on the table.
|
|
|
