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January 22, 2007
Linda Frame
Simple concept: W.Va. could take lead with first bottle bill in region
The time is now for the West Virginia Beverage Container Recycling and Litter
Control Act, or “bottle bill.” City councils, county commissions, farmers,
environmental organizations and Adopt-A-Highway volunteers across the state
think so and The Charleston Gazette recently included the bottle bill on its
list of priorities for this year’s legislative session.
A bottle bill would put a fully refundable 10-cent deposit on beverage
containers sold in West Virginia. The 11 existing bottle bill states, which
recycle more than the other 39 combined, enjoy a reduction of up to 80 percent
of their beverage container litter. A fully refundable 10-cent deposit puts a
value on empty containers and provides a strong incentive against littering. If
someone still decides to turn his beverage container into litter, the person who
takes the trouble to pick it up can redeem it. What a simple concept, and one
that we already had in our state back when most drinks came in glass bottles.
Why a 10-cent deposit? Many of today’s existing bottle bills were passed in
the 1970s and ’80s and put a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers (Michigan is
the exception at 10 cents). We propose following Michigan’s example. Five cents
isn’t what it used to be and a 10-cent deposit would help ensure a higher level
of recycling for years to come.
The beverage and convenience store industries, which oppose the bottle bill,
claim that beverage containers make up just 8 percent of our litter problem. In
fact, bottle bills in other states have reduced overall litter between 40
percent and 60 percent. Something doesn’t add up. A bottle bill would also
create jobs and foster economic development. After all, tourists and businesses
alike prefer to invest in a state that takes pride in itself, instead of
allowing its vistas, highways and rivers to become clogged with litter. And ask
any Adopt-A-Highway volunteer, the people who actually do litter cleanups, about
the 8 percent figure and chances are they’ll give you another opinion on how
much beverage container litter is out there.
These same industries say that bottle bills are inconvenient and will drive
business across our borders. In fact, bottle bills have been effective in other
states for more than 35 years and no statewide bottle bill has ever been
repealed. Why? They have huge popularity with voters, they work at cleaning up
litter and increasing recycling and, even though every existing bottle bill
state is bordered by a non-bottle bill state, none has seen its beverage
industry go belly-up because of people flocking across the border to buy their
six-packs.
West Virginia has the chance to take the lead in Appalachia by passing the
first bottle bill in this region. Once we have a bill here, other states on our
borders can follow our lead. Many of our forward-thinking state senators and
delegates, regardless of their district location or party affiliation, have
signed on as sponsors of this legislation.
We hope all of West Virginia’s legislators have a chance to vote for the West
Virginia Beverage Container and Litter Control Act this session and that they
decide to endorse the bottle bill, a vote for our rivers, communities, highways
and cleanup volunteers. Citizens need to ask legislators where they stand on the
bottle bill — for the volunteers who pick up after litterbugs, or for the
apparently pro-litter industries that prefer the status quo.
Frame is program manager for the West Virginia-Citizen Action Group,
www.wvcag.org.
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