By: Alex Kuffner,Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE – A few months after bottle bill proponents released a poll showing the majority of Rhode Islanders support the measure aimed at boosting recycling and reducing litter, opponents are now announcing their own survey, which resulted in a more mixed response.
The survey of 600 Rhode Island voters, commissioned by a group calling itself Stop the Rhode Island Bottle Tax, which is backed by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo., other beverage companies and small businesses, found that 50% of respondents initially expressed support for the creation of a redemption system for used bottles, cans and other recyclable drinks containers while 46% were opposed.
But after hearing messages for and against the proposal to require a refundable 10-cent deposit on applicable beverage purchases, akin to what’s been around in other states for decades, support dropped to 34% and opposition climbed to 60%, according to results of the survey conducted from March 31 to April 3 by David Binder Research.
“Raising prices at a time when Rhode Island families are already struggling with inflation is not the way to improve recycling,” said Busra Toprak, owner of Baba’s Original New York System Wieners in Providence, in a statement released by Stop the Rhode Island Bottle Tax.
Latest version of bottle bill getting a hearing
The survey was released on the morning of May 7, hours before General Assembly members were set to hold the first hearing on the latest version of the bottle bill.
The Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture was scheduled that night to take up a standalone bill to create a beverage container redemption program while also considering a second piece of legislation that would not only create the redemption program but would also set up an “extended producer responsibility” program to improve how other packaging waste is handled in the state’s trash system.
The bills came out of the work done by a special legislative commission that aimed to develop ways to reduce plastic waste in Rhode Island. The commission included representatives of environmental groups as well as the American Beverage Association, liquor companies and small business owners.
The legislation that combines a bottle bill with an extended producer responsibility program is being sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney and Rep. Carol McEntee, the two co-chairs of the plastic waste commission.
It has the support of a group called the Coalition for High Performance Recycling, which represents Red Bull, the Ball Corp. and other companies that say the measure would improve recycling in Rhode Island.
Save The Bay, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Clean Water Action and Just Zero are also supporters, saying the bottle bill component of the legislation is necessary to not only improve recycling but also reduce littering by offering a cash incentive to people to pick up discarded bottles and cans.
What would RI’s bottle bill look like?
The Environment Council of Rhode Island, which represents some 60 environmental groups in the state, announced at an event on May 6 that the McKenney/McEntee bill is among its top four priorities in the General Assembly this year.
The bill would impose a 10-cent deposit on all purchases of drinks in bottles, cans, plastics and other recyclable materials that would then be refunded when the empty containers are returned.
The program would be modeled on Oregon’s industry-leading system, in which an independent entity, not grocery stores and other retailers, handles the empty containers. The entity, known as a “producer responsibility organization,” would ideally set up multiple ways for consumers to make returns, including through reverse vending machines and bag drop depots.
But the American Beverage Association and other opponents say the program would increase costs for consumers and inconvenience them. The association supports an extended producer responsibility program, saying it will address a wider range of plastics, not just beverage containers.
The other members of Stop the Rhode Island Bottle Tax include Caffe-Bon-Ami, Tomato City Pizza, Baba’s Original NY System, La Esquinita Market, Little Rhody Foods, Taste of Africa Market and Station 1 convenience store.
In response to the poll from Stop the Rhode Island Bottle Tax, Jed Thorp, director of advocacy for Save The Bay, said that the poll commissioned by his organization as well as others have consistently shown support for bottle bills, pointing to surveys by Keep America Beautiful and those done in a number of states.