To Crain’s Detroit re: Michigan’s Bottle Law
To The Editor:
As the owner of a brand new business in Michigan targeted at reducing the amount of landfill waste that the disposable bottles create and natural resources that they consume, I’m heartily in favor of our bottle bill being extended to “disposable” water and sports drink bottles. However, I appreciate the burden that retailers face and wonder if there isn’t a simple, creative option for assisting them.
According to your article, Michigan lags behind the other Great Lakes States in recycling with a rate of only 15%, however, we have a 97% returnable redemption rate. The Michigan Recycling Coalition states that approximately 30% of Michigan’s population is served by curbside recycling. Logic tells us that even if curbside recycling is tripled, we’re still not going to be recycling nonreturnable beverage containers at a rate anywhere near those covered by our current bottle law.
According to the Michigan Department of Treasury’s Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis, in 2007, the estimated total deposits collected were y $409.5 million. $8.9 million worth of these deposits were unredeemed. Of that amount, 25% went to larger retailers that sell returnables, and 75% went to The Cleanup and Redevelopment Trust Fund. As a state, if we were to amend the bottle law to cover all beverage containers, not only would our total deposits increase, but our unredeemed deposits would increase, as well. Why not give all of our retailers that are on the “front line” collecting returnables a larger piece of these unredeemed deposits to cover their burden?
I’m proud that our state took progressive action in 1976 to become the national leader in beverage container recycling. Nationally, water bottle sales increased from about 12 billion in 1996 to almost 60 billion in 2006. With the dramatic increase in bottled water and sports drink consumption, it’s time to step up our commitment, but not at the expense of our already suffering retail establishments.
Of course, let’s not forget to reduce and reuse…
Julia Girdler
President
www.H2Ox2.com
Tags: Bottles, Deposits, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Water Bottles
