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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993                   TAG: 9302250372
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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UNFOUNDED CONCERNS ABOUT `BOTTLE BILL'

DANIEL Flage made some good points in his Feb. 9 commentary, "Virginia should have a bottle bill." He might also have added that the "bottle bill" being promoted by Sen. Joseph Gartlan and Del. Karen Darner will provide more than $130 million during its first five years to local recycling programs that are struggling to meet state-mandated percentages. Roanoke alone will receive more than $2 million. This money will not come from taxes but from unclaimed deposits. In other words, those who refuse to dispose of their used containers properly will foot the bill for the entire program.

Virginia will also enjoy a net increase in jobs, as has every other state with a bottle bill. And the Gartlan-Darner bill is a new-style bottle bill, which means that retailers won't have to accept used containers, if they choose to participate with a redemption center.

Unfortunately, our elected representatives don't seem to be very impressed that their constituents support a bottle bill by more than four to one. Year after year we hear the same tired excuses: ignorance, concerns about job losses, and the impact on small-shop owners. If our legislators would take the time to learn what is actually in the Gartlan-Darner bill, they would find out that these concerns are unfounded.

But then they would be out of excuses and, after all, there's always another election around the corner. The bottlers and distributors who are squashing this bill are among the most generous and steady of the special interests that are buying our government. ERIC SHEFFIELD BUENA VISTA

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