Environment DEC
From the February 2009 issue
Grannis: Updating "Bottle Bill" is a No-brainer
DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis recently urged support of the "Bigger Better Bottle Bill," saying it would reduce litter, keep million of containers out of our landfills, help in the fight against global warming, and generate badly needed revenue.
An Easy Choice
"As Governor Paterson has made clear, New York is facing a staggering budget deficit and must make many hard choices, but updating New York's 27-year-old Bottle Bill is not one of them," Grannis said. "Expanding the law to cover non-carbonated beverages such as fruit juice, water and sports drinks is long overdue."
Since the original Bottle Bill was enacted in 1982 requiring a five-cent deposit on beer and carbonated drinks, roadside litter has been reduced 70 percent. More than 90 billion containers and 6 million tons of glass, aluminum and plastic have been recycled, resulting in saving more than 50 million barrels of oil and eliminating 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases-a sum equal to getting 600,000 cars off the road for one year.
Grannis noted that a flaw in the current law is that the five-cent deposit applies only to beer and carbonated beverages. In his 2009-10 Executive Budget, Governor Paterson proposed expanding the law to apply to non-carbonated beverages.
New Bill Badly Needed
"It makes no sense to continue to differentiate these containers based on their contents, especially with non-carbonated drinks now making up more than one-quarter of the beverage market," Grannis said. "An expanded bottle bill also will keep New York's roadsides, waterways and parks cleaner. Right now, too many plastic and glass containers end up as trash in our parks, playgrounds, rivers and lakes. And this problem will continue to grow as people buy more water and sports drinks."
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Non-carbonated drinks make up over one-quarter of the beverage market, yet only 16% are recycled.
Grannis cited a 2005 study by the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency that found that while 80 percent of plastic soda bottles are recycled, just 16 percent of plastic water bottles are recovered.
"Currently, nickels that customers pay on soda and beer containers but never reclaim remain with the beverage manufacturers," Grannis said. "Under the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, the industry would be required to return these funds to the state. This would amount to more than $100 million a year at a time of enormous financial difficulty."
See the complete press release upon which this story is based for the comments of other officials present at this announcement.
Related Links:
Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (leaving DEC's website)
