By: Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE – State legislators have introduced a trio of bills that came out of the work done by a special commission tasked with finding ways to reduce plastic bottle waste in Rhode Island.
The pieces of legislation offer the General Assembly three ways to try to improve the state’s lagging recycling rate.
One measure, a so-called bottle bill, targets used beverage containers by creating a deposit return program similar to what’s been around in other states for decades. Another sets up a broader “extended producer responsibility” program that would also take care of cardboard, plastic and other types of packaging materials.
And the third bill – which is favored by the commission’s co-chairs, environmental groups and some manufacturers but not by organizations that represent the beverage industry – does both in an attempt to address multiple waste streams in the state.
With all three measures, it would be up to the consumer brands that use the materials to package their products to manage the new recycling programs.
In a joint statement, Save The Bay, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Clean Water Action and Just Zero voiced support for efforts to create a bottle redemption program for the state, which resulted from 13 hearings by the 20-member commission over a year and a half.
“It is now clearer than ever that bottle bills both reduce litter and improve recycling, and the bills introduced today are the result of this careful, deliberative process,” the groups said.
How would a bottle bill work in Rhode Island?
The combination bill recommended by the commission was introduced in the House on Wednesday by Rep. Carol McEntee, the South Kingstown Democrat who co-chaired the commission. Sen. Mark McKenney, the Warwick Democrat and also a co-chair, plans to introduce the Senate version.
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.
The aim of the program is twofold. It would reduce littering by creating an incentive for people to pick up discarded bottles and cans and cash them in at return sites. One study has estimated that there’s twice as much litter per capita in states that don’t have a bottle bill states than in those that do.
The program would also improve Rhode Island’s recycling rate, which currently ranks 26th in the nation. Of the 10 states with the highest recycling rates, nine have bottle bills.
An extended producer responsibility program would function in a similar fashion by segregating packaging materials from the state’s waste system. It, too, would place the responsibility for the program on the companies that use the materials to package their goods.
Mixed support for bills
While the environmental groups represented on the legislative commission support the idea of extended producer responsibility, they don’t back the bill that doesn’t include a stand-alone bottle redemption program. That’s in part because they say a cash incentive is key to addressing the litter problem caused by empty beverage containers.
Groups that represent liquor companies oppose all three bills, arguing that they will raise costs for producers and consumers. The Rhode Island Beverage Association, which counts Coca-Cola and PepsiCo among its members, supports an extended producer responsibility program but not a bottle bill, calling it a “tone-deaf response to the cost pressure consumers are under at the grocery store.”
But another industry group, the Coalition for High Performance Recycling, which represents Red Bull and the Ball Corp., among other companies, voiced support for the McEntee legislation that includes a bottle bill saying it will foster “a more sustainable and circular economy.”