Posted at 9:23 a.m., Tuesday, May 16, 2006
State recycles 45.9 million bottles and cans in March
Advertiser Staff
Consumers in Hawai'i got back their nickel deposits for 45.9 million bottles and cans in March, pushing the redemption rate to 61 percent for that month, according to state health officials.The state Health Department today announced the latest recycling/redemption figures based on reports received from recyclers and beverage distributors as of May 1, 2006.
Health department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said deposits began to be charged in October 2004 and redemption centers opened Jan. 1, 2005. Since the start of the program through March 2006, she said 1.215 billion deposit beverage containers were sold and more than 711 million containers have been redeemed for recycling at redemption centers, which opened January 1, 2005.
The redemption rates for selected periods are:
March 2006: 61%
FY 2004-05 (July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005): 41%
FY 2005-06 to date (July 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006): 71% *
Program to date (July 1, 2004 to March 31, 2006): 59%
Yearly Average (April 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006): 69%
* If the redemption rate for the entire fiscal year (July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006) exceeds 70 percent, the law requires the container fee to increase from 1¢ to 1.5¢ per container. If that happens, the state will notify distributors on Aug. 1, and make any fee change starting Sept. 1.
For more information on the State's Deposit Beverage Container Program visit www.hawaii.gov/health or www.hi5deposit.com
