State lawmakers seek to work out bottle-bill kinks

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

The redemption of soda and beer bottles was a common thing in Hawai'i half a century ago, and it looks like it could be again come Jan. 1, when the state's new bottle bill takes effect — with or without a few fine-tuning amendments under consideration at the Legislature.

The state House has passed and sent to the Senate legislation to make the state's bottle bill easier to implement.

Food-industry representatives say they are still hoping for a one-year delay to give the state and the industry time to set up the program, but there currently is no bill in the Legislature concerning such a delay.

The bottle bill was passed in 2002, and although legislation to improve its functioning passed in last year's Legislature, it was vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle.

This year's bill is similar in content to 2003's legislation, with additional amendments to improve its implementation, said Rep. Mina Morita, D-14th (Kapa'a, Hanalei).

The bottle bill places a 6-cent redemption fee on the sale of beverage containers — including cans, plastic containers and glass bottles — and will allow customers to return their bottles and cans for a 5-cent refund.

The extra cent is a handling fee that goes to cover the costs of the program.

Morita said the proposed amendments include ones to keep individual retailers' financial reports confidential, to allow certain retailers a six-month delay before having to have redemption facilities in place, and to allow bottlers the option of early distribution of drinks labeled for the redemption fee.

The latter proposal is so bottlers can start selling beverages labeled for redemption if they have them done before Jan. 1. Consumers would pay the fee on those bottles and could redeem them after Jan. 1.

The cumbersome nature of the process of redeeming bottles and cans has been a major issue for the industry, but once the bottle bill goes into effect, few retailers will actually have to handle redemption, said state recycling coordinator Jennifer Tosaki. Most would fall under one of several exemptions.

Small stores, with less than 5,000 square feet of floor space, won't need to act as redemption centers, and a larger store that has another redemption center within two miles won't need to accept containers, either.

Redemption centers could take several forms:

• Individual stores could simply accept empties and pay customers a nickel apiece for them, or give them a voucher or coupon that can be used to buy things in the store. The store can contract with a recycling firm to pick up the containers, and get the nickel back from the recycler. The recycler makes its money from a portion of the one-cent handling fee.
• Redemption machines, often called reverse vending machines, allow customers to shove in a can or bottle and get cash or a voucher that can be redeemed at a nearby store checkout counter.
• Options of dedicated redemption sites and part-time ones. Redemption centers can be open just at certain hours — for instance, a store might elect to redeem empties from 4:30 to 6 p.m. to make it easy for people to bring in containers after work.
• Recycling firms that run redemption centers could elect to count containers or go by weight for large loads.

Even industry officials who generally oppose the bottle bill believe that if it is going to take effect, the amendments in HB2968, House Draft 2, are important to make it function most efficiently.

The food and beverage industry would like to do away with the bottle bill entirely, or delay its implementation for one year, said Ed Thompson, executive director of the Hawai'i Food Industry Association.

If there is no delay, the industry needs to have the measures in HB2968 approved, Thompson said.

"We do need these amendments; they do address most of our primary concerns. If we don't get them and we go with the current law, it's really going to be hard on the retailers," he said.

Tosaki said the amendments to the bottle bill are designed to make it as easy on retailers as possible.

The state Senate has not set a hearing date for the bill to improve implementation, but the Senate Energy and Environment Committee hopes to hold a hearing and move it forward, said committee chairman Sen. Kalani English, D-6th (East Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i).

One concern is whether the state will have administrative rules and regulations for implementing the bottle bill done in time for retailers to gear up for implementation less than 10 months from now.

Tosaki said that the rules are almost ready and should be sent to Lingle for her approval within a few days.

"We've been waiting for the final cleanup language (of HB2968), but we're pushing out the rules" to give the state and the industry as much time as possible to prepare," Tosaki said.

English said that if it looks like enacting the rules will take too long, the Legislature may need to put the rules and regulations into HB2968 to provide business with the lead time it needs.

The governor's position on the proposed amendments to the bottle bill is not yet known.

Lingle opposed the bottle bill initially, siding with the food and beverage industry in arguing that other systems, like curbside recycling, do a better and more efficient job of removing containers from the waste stream.

Tosaki said that the problem with curbside recycling is that it may not address the problem of the large amount of individual beverages that are consumed away from the home.

She said the state imports 800 million beverages in containers each year, and many of those containers end up in unrecycled trash or as litter on roadsides, she said.

"Container-deposit systems operating in 10 states around the country achieve 80 percent recovery on average, which is greater than curbside systems — about 50 percent — and far greater than voluntary drop-off — about 20 percent," Tosaki said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.