Battle lines are being drawn by friends and foes of bills in the state Legislature that would establish deposits up to several-cents per container on beverage containers sold in Hawai’i. Those supporting the bill, including state Rep. Mina Morita (D,
Battle lines are being drawn by friends and foes of bills in the state Legislature that would establish deposits up to several-cents per container on beverage containers sold in Hawai’i.
Those supporting the bill, including state Rep. Mina Morita (D, north Kaua’i and east Maui), chair of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee and author of the House version of the so-called “bottle bill,” see deposits on beverage containers as partial solutions to the problems of litter and the filling of landfills.
Opponents, including Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling, Lowell Kalapa of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii and other groups and individuals, see the proposal as a new tax, and a hassle that will raise the cost of items other than beverages at local markets.
State Rep. Ezra Kanoho (D, Waipouli, Lihu’e, Puhi) continues to vote for the bottle-bill measures before the state Legislature, though earlier this week he admitted he’s unsure whether or not the measures will work to reduce litter or the filling of landfills, and if the costs associated with the redemption system justify its establishment.
Senate Bill 2266, Senate Draft 1, House Draft 2, yesterday was recommended to the House Finance Committee. According to sources at the state Legislature, the measure is heading for a joint House-Senate conference committee near the end of the session.
It would establish a statewide beverage container deposit program, impose beverage container deposit requirements and fees (currently a one-cent tax and four-cent deposit on every beverage container), require beverage distributors to register with the state, establish the beverage container deposit program special fund, provide for the redemption of empty beverage containers, and provide requirements for recycling facilities and redemption centers.
Those for the bill include the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters of Honolulu, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, Environmental Law Society, Pacific Action Alliance, Gov. Ben Cayetano and Mayor Maryanne Kusaka.
“People who have experienced bottle bills in other states understand how phenomenally successful they are at reducing litter and increasing recycling,” said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club’s Hawai’i chapter.
Some 10 states have laws requiring deposits be paid on beverage containers at the time of purchase, with deposits refunded when the empty containers are brought back either to the point of purchase or a redemption center.
Mikulina said residents and visitors discard 75,000 bottles and cans each hour in Hawai’i, and that a bottle bill would slow the filling of landfills, create jobs, and reduce bottle and can litter from beaches and roadways.
The bottle bill proposes a new tax that will cost Hawai’i consumers $26 million a year, including $17 million in new taxes, argues the Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling. Further, the group says beverage containers account for just 1.5 percent of the state’s trash, and the bill as proposed will increase the state’s recycling rate by less than 1 percent.
Earlier, Kalapa said legislators without business backgrounds don’t have much of a clue about the costs a bottle law would have to small retailers.
“It will impact the cost of everything in the grocery store,” and that impacts everyone in the state, even those who do not purchase beverages like beer and soft drinks, said Kalapa.
The cost of a bag of rice will rise in relation to the additional costs retailers will have to pass onto consumers if a container redemption law becomes reality, he said.
Stores will have to build additional warehouse space or take valuable space out of retail areas to make room for storage of empty containers the public redeems, and will have to hire additional workers to clean, segregate and store the empty containers, he noted.
Though Kaua’i retailers were reluctant to comment about how a bottle law might impact them, one Big Island store owner was adamant.
“The bottle bill will end up hurting grocery stores and other food retailers that do not have sufficient space, manpower or resources to collect empty containers and administer the redemption program,” said Roland Kaneshiro, owner of T. Kaneshiro Store in Honoka’a on the Big Island.
“Grocers and retailers are in the business of selling products, and should not have to serve as trash collectors,” Kaneshiro said.
“I fully support the need to recycle and responsibly manage solid waste, but the fact is a bottle bill will create another expensive state government program, and will have almost zero impact on Hawai’i’s trash and litter, because beverage containers make up only a fraction of the waste and litter streams,” said Ed Thompson of the Hawaii Food Industry Association.
At the start of the current session, Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling presented legislators with an alternative recycling plan utilizing a combination of curbside pickup and container drop-off sites statewide, which proponents said would double the state’s recycling rate and cost taxpayers one-fourth of what taxpayers will end up paying under a bottle law.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
