Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 4, 1992 TAG: 9202040195
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
`BOTTLE BILL' GIVEN NEW LIFE
Consumers would pay a 5-cent to 10-cent deposit on beverage containers and return their empty bottles and cans to redemption centers under a recycling bill presented to a Senate committee Monday.The bill sponsored by Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, takes a new tack on the "bottle bill" introduced for years without success by Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville. Marye gave up last year after his bill finally cleared a committee only to fail on the Senate floor.
Marye's bill would have required consumers to return the empty containers to stores to get their deposits back. Gartlan's bill would set up a statewide system of redemption centers to handle the recycling.
Despite the differences, the same lobbyists lined up on either side of the legislation in a public hearing before the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. Representatives of local governments and recycling companies supported the measure; spokesmen for soft drink and beer wholesalers opposed it.
"Waste management is our primary issue in our city," said Charlottesville City Councilwoman Kay Slaughter. "Help us reverse this throwaway society."
E. Gifford Stack, vice president of the National Soft Drink Association, called the bill "a deposit tax" that "would do little to reduce the amount of solid waste in Virginia."
Under the bill, consumers would be charged a deposit of 5 cents to 10 cents per beverage container. Purchasers could get the money back by taking their empty containers to redemption centers.
The law would apply to metal, glass or plastic containers for soft drinks, beer, wine, wine coolers, liquor, milk, juices and mineral water.
The Gartlan bill attempts to bypass the opposition of retail merchants by setting up the redemption centers.
The bill would create 500 jobs in Virginia, said William Westhoff, a vice president of Environmental Products Corp., of Fairfax, which operates redemption centers.
"This type of bill is good business for Virginia," he said.
But Stack said the bill would create too much bureaucracy while making a tiny dent in the amount of trash going into landfills.
"It's based on a costly California law," he said. Stack said beverage containers account for only 2.5 percent of solid waste.
Marye said the bill's opponents are unwilling to make any sacrifices to reduce litter.
"What constructive bills have you offered?" he asked Stack.
Stack said he prefers the voluntary recycling programs offered by several Virginia localities.
The committee put off a vote on the bill.
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