$2.7M raised to launch bottle law
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state has raised more than $2.7 million to launch Hawai'i's beverage container redemption program in January 2005, better known as the bottle bill.
The stash of cash is designed to create a buffer that will allow the state to pay drink container redemptions before the first container deposits are credited to the state's account. The sum should more than double before the container redemption program takes effect.
The $2.7 million seed money comes from a half-cent fee on every plastic drink bottle and aluminum beverage can sold in the state since October 2002, and represents the take from Oct. 1, 2002, through August 2003, said Steve Chang, manager of the state Department of Health's Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch, which will oversee the operation.
Starting Jan. 1, 2005, 6 cents will be added to the price of a canned or bottled drink in Hawai'i. When the container is turned in, a nickel will be refunded. The penny difference goes to pay for the cost of running the program, including paying handling fees to recyclers who buy back the containers.
Chang said his office expects annual receipts of $48 million, based on roughly 800 million beverage containers sold in the Islands each year. His office estimates returns of 70 percent to 80 percent, or about $30 million paid in redemptions.
The bill was passed in the 2002 Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Ben Cayetano. Gov. Linda Lingle has opposed it and continues to think it's a bad idea, but she said this week she would not seek a repeal in the 2004 Legislature.
"I believe the bottle bill will not make a big dent on the amount of garbage on the roadsides or garbage going into the landfill," Lingle said. "It also creates a big government bureaucracy."
Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter director Jeff Mikulina said Hawai'i recycles only about 20 percent of its beverage containers, while states with bottle bills get litter reduction of about 75 percent and recycling of more than 80 percent.
"Bottle bills work. They provide a real incentive for people to recycle — and an incentive not to litter," Mikulina said. He urged Lingle to complete the rulemaking to implement the law.
Lingle said her administration, which supported the repeal of beverage container deposit legislation in the 2003 Legislature and vetoed a bill to clear up problems in the bill's language, would not make a new effort to kill the program.
Honolulu city recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones said she was heartened by Lingle's decision. "I'm hoping we can now move forward to implement this bill," she said.
Chang said he hoped to have proposed regulations for the beverage container program on Lingle's desk by the end of the month, so they can be taken to public hearings.
"We hope to have them in place by May," he said, so recyclers will have time to purchase equipment and develop contracts for the recycling of plastic, aluminum and glass beverage containers.
Chang said his office expected to have a staff of about six people handling the program.
Much of the hands-on work will be handled by county recycling offices and private recyclers. The state's role will be primarily accounting — collecting the deposits and cutting checks for redemptions.
Beverage container makers will be responsible for having their containers properly marked as returnable when the program begins. Only properly marked containers will be eligible for redemption.
It is not clear precisely how the redemption process will work statewide.
For example, Maui County has expressed interest in controlling its program directly, with container redemption centers placed in existing county recycling facilities.
Some areas may have redemption machines, which would read bar codes and pump out 5 cents per container. Or they might provide a receipt to redeem. Other areas might have staff to pay cash for properly marked containers.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
