ISLAND VOICES
Bottle bill creates problems
By Bill Comerford
President and treasurer of E&J Lounge Operating Co. in Honolulu
I operate three bars and may be opinionated in this matter. I am in favor of curbside recycling. I recycle at home, sorting out my cans, plastic, glass and paper.
In each of my bars, I am currently paying the one-cent-per-bottle fee for city recycling and I currently recycle 99 percent of my glass waste without having to store the trash inside my premises. Bars and restaurants already recycle effectively under the existing law. With the instituted bottle bill, businesses will be penalized for the public's failure to recycle.
However, I foresee some effects that the bottle bill will cause:
• The cost to each and every business dealing in beverages will increase. Not by a nickel a bottle, which every consumer expects. Each importer, every wholesaler and every retailer will have an added expense to pay per bottle based on deposits. Each of the above will also have the added expense of finding storage for outgoing as well as incoming bottles. If there is no room, where are you going to put it?
• Who is going to pick up the bottles in Waikiki? The delivery trucks that nobody wants on the streets of Waikiki? They'll be parked twice as long or they will require a second "return" vehicle, blocking more street space.
• The current recyclers take all glass, whole or broken, compacted and stored for perhaps twice-a-week pickup. They will all be put out of business by the "deep pocket" aspects of this bill. Only the big-buck guys who have cash to pay out deposits for nine months without reimbursement can survive this bill. Every current glass recycler will be gone. Read the qualifications to be a recycler.
• The pyramiding of deposits and tax and the cost of handling and storage will drive the expected price of beer up by a dollar in many bars and restaurants. Bad for consumers, good for legislators, another 4.16 cents tax per sale in addition to the one-cent deposit that is never returned.
• Within the year, the Health Department will make some statement to the effect that it is not a good idea to be storing trash on the same premises that food or beverage is going to be served. What options are there? It will be the law. They'll insist that all beverage containers be washed and sterilized before returning to grocery stores where your food is waiting to be sold to you. Excuse me, but aren't we supposed to be conserving water?
• Come summertime, the stench of stale beer and sticky soda will permeate certain areas and at grocery store return centers. Business will be affected.
• Some restaurant owners will find it easier to just throw the bottles outside and let the homeless or others pick them up rather than store them.
• "Variety is no longer the spice of life." Bars won't have the option of offering 20 types of beer. Space being the issue, only the most popular brands will survive here. Adios to all the microbrews.
• Has recycling ever been effective in a place that did not have a bottling plant?
Maybe I'm biased, but I believe curbside recycling has a better chance of being effective in the long run. Let's at least consider the consequences of this bill. It sure seems like a feel-good idea, but to what effect?
People have to take the responsibility to recycle on an individual basis. Stop being lazy and sort your trash or you'll be paying higher prices for everything you drink. Did I just see a van cam?
