A Loudon County state representative has introduced a bill to the Tennessee General Assembly to encourage recycling by imposing a deposit on glass, plastic and aluminum bottles sold in the state.
Rep. Russell Johnson introduced the bill this year as he has done for the past five years, and he said he thinks that changes made to this year’s version could finally get it passed.
The piece of legislation would place a five cent deposit on each bottle to be redeemed at redemption centers, Johnson said.
Eleven other states, including Maine, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Iowa, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Michigan and Massachusetts, have passed similar legislation.
The initiative began in the 1970s when Oregon became the first to pass bottle bill legislation in 1971, Marge Davis, coordinator of the Tennessee Bottle Bill Project, said.
“The first serious effort to pass a bottle bill in Tennessee was launched in the late 1970s, when states around the country were passing bottle bills,” she said.
The governor and legislature, however, passed a tax on beer and soda that generate as much as $5 million for counties to fund litter pick up initiatives that are often carried out by prisoners, Davis said.
Johnson said that the litter pick-up crews that dot the state’s highways and roadsides aren’t as effective as the bottle bill promises to be.
He said that the bill would encourage consumers to recycle their bottles because they would receive their bottle deposit back from the redemption centers. Johnson explained how the bill would work if passed.
“Within a one year startup, you would have to pay an additional five cents for every beverage container made of glass, plastic or aluminum purchased for off-premises consumption under two liters.”
But, he said, “milk and liquor are excluded [and] you would not have to pay for drinks consumed in bars or restaurants.”
The consumer would receive the five cent deposit at the redemption center which, he said, could be operated by city and county governments or by grocery stores.
“It would create jobs and provide fundraising opportunities for schools, scout groups, little leagues … that have bottle drives to collect the nickel deposits.”
Davis said that recycling rates across the board in states that have bottle bill legislation is higher.
“Recycling rates for other commodities [like] newspapers are also higher as people get into the habit of recycling,” she said. “The roads are significantly less littered in these states.”
For more information regarding the bottle bill project, visit http://www.tnbottlebill.org.
