By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Everybody is "grassroots" nowadays.

Of course, not everybody is, but everybody is sure trying to give that impression.

Consider the debate over the bottle bill. The measure being discussed at the Legislature would impose a 5-cent deposit on beverage containers from aluminum cans to glass to plastic water bottles. Basically, you pay an additional 5 cents per soda, and when you're pau, you turn the can in at a "recovery center" and get your nickel back.

And if you go to the beach and collect rubbish, or offer to turn in your neighbor's cans, make money, eh? An additional 2-cent fee per container would go to the state for recycling programs.

All four county mayors are supporting the bill, along with the state Department of Health, Sierra Club and Hawai'i's Thousand Friends.

Standing against the bill is Hawai'i Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling. The group has dropped some bucks on radio and print ads that criticize the Legislature for trying to slip a "new tax" by the people. The radio ad is particularly local/us-guys sounding, with a real "Clayton and Lisa" type couple talking stink about the bill.

Grassroots? That's what you're supposed to think. The Hawai'i Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling is made up of food-and-beverage industry representatives. We're not talking mom-and-pop stores. We're talking the Pepsi Bottling Group-Hawai'i. The Big Guys.

On the other side, Rep. Mina Morita said she introduced the bill on behalf of fifth- and sixth-graders from Kualapu'u School on Moloka'i. The kids were assigned to identify a problem on their island, do a community poll and research a solution. The students turned their attention to solid-waste problems and came up with the bottle bill as a way to increase recycling rates. Morita was impressed.

"Running parallel to these kids were solid-waste managers from all four counties, Department of Health, some recyclers and environmentalists, and they were researching the best way to up our recycling rate. And they came up with the same solution," Morita said.

Last year, the Moloka'i kids came to Honolulu to testify before the Legislature in support of "their" bill.

"The turning point for me," said Morita, "was when one of the girls got up in this room full of adults — they were the only children in the room and half the adults there were the lobbyists for the beverage industry — and she looked at everybody and she said, "When I grow up, I don't want to be stuck with your problems."

There's much to be said about the need for recycling incentives and the value of curbside recycling — but the point is to pay close attention to who's saying what and where they're coming from. Moloka'i is about as grassroots as it gets.

The bill is now in conference committee. A decision needs to be made by Friday for the bill to survive. The committee will reconvene today at 6 p.m. in Room 312 at the State Capitol.