The net worth of empty beverage containers, if they are of the “high five” variety, increased exponentially, the result of the state’s recycling “bottle bill.” Where straight recycling of aluminum cans netted people between 25 cents to 30 cents per
The net worth of empty beverage containers, if they are of the “high five” variety, increased exponentially, the result of the state’s recycling “bottle bill.”
Where straight recycling of aluminum cans netted people between 25 cents to 30 cents per pound of product, now the same number of cans with “HI 5¢” are worth $1.60, explained Allison Fraley, county recycling coordinator.
There are around 32 cans in a pound, and those cans with the new five-cent-deposit designation are worth a nickel apiece. Plastic and glass beverage containers, routinely tossed into the trash and literally worthless before the new law, are or will be worth a nickel apiece soon, too.
The problem is that, while retailers were given the green light to begin charging five-cent deposits on properly labeled beverage containers as of Nov. 1, redemption centers won’t start offering nickels until Saturday, Jan. 1, leaving lots of Kaua‘i folks wondering if it’s worth it to begin segregating empty containers not only by commodity (plastic, glass, aluminum), but by whether or not they have the “HI 5¢” designations.
Fraley said it’s worth it. “I say start the habit now. If you can, save your containers” that have the “HI 5¢” designations for the new year, and recycle the other aluminum, plastic and glass beverage containers, either at the Kauai Recycles bins across the island, or at places like Reynolds Recycling in Nawiliwili, she said.
The bottle bill provides economic incentives to recycle, said Fraley and Terry Telfer, president of Reynolds Recycling in Hawai‘i, starting with the fact that retailers effective Nov. 1 began charging consumers five cents per container for each container carrying the “HI 5¢” designation.
Both also agree the new law will do much to keep glass, plastic and aluminum cans out of Kekaha Landfill. Plastic bottles take up lots of landfill volume, Fraley and Telfer said.
Telfer and Reynolds leaders plan to get into the redemption business on Kaua‘i in a big way, envisioning three to five redemption centers across Kaua‘i by the time the full effect of the law kicks in Saturday, Jan. 1, and 30 sites statewide by the end of the year.
With a statewide recycling rate of only around 28 percent on beverage containers now, the bottle bill is expected to increase that percentage to 80, Telfer said.
“It’s a behavior change.” The five cents per container refund is incentive. “That’s where you get your behavior change,” said Telfer, routinely using words like “cool” to describe the new law.
He is hopeful the change in attitudes about recycling beverage containers will encourage people to think more about recycling other commodities, like newspaper, cardboard and office paper. The end result will be a cleaner state, with less litter, he said.
“Some will do recycling no matter what. The whole populace, you need incentives,” Fraley said.
County officials have seen increases in recycling of both plastics and glass, in part because of new programs and the fact both commodities are accepted at the Kauai Recycles bins from Waimea to Princeville, Fraley said.
Telfer said plastic bottles are re-made into computer shells, carpeting, sports shoes, plastic lumber, and other items.
Once an aluminum can is made, it can be recycled into another aluminum can nearly for eternity, so new resources don’t have to be mined, he added. A man sailed a boat made entirely from recycled aluminum cans around the world, he said. Glass bottles can become new glass bottles, be used for sandblasting, or for landscaping or land-compaction needs.
For more information on recycling: Call Fraley at 241-6891, or go to www.reynoldsrecycling.com.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
