Green Genie In A Bottle? | Expanded returnable container bill could fall flat
Daniel Shabo runs a business, but he doesn’t mind spending more to run it if he can help the environment.
Shabo, owner of Fantastic Pizza in Worcester, supports a bill before the Legislature that would expand the state’s returnable container law — also known as the “bottle bill” — because he wants to eliminate litter from non-carbonated beverage containers. “It’s a lot of waste,” he said. Also, he believes requiring deposits on more types of drinks would be fairer. “Why just Coca-Cola or the beer?”
Last month, supporters of the legislation announced that some 350 small businesses from around the state had signed on as supporters.
One of them was Shabo’s.
Shabo acknowledged that an expanded bottle law would increase his cost of doing business, but he doesn’t think his customers would mind a small increase in the price of his food to make up for it. “I really like to see things clean and fair for everyone,” he said.
George Badran, owner of another Worcester pizza restaurant, Freshway, agreed. “We’re paying for the package, so somebody should be able to collect,” he said.
Costs Could Rise
On the opposite side of the issue is Paul Barber, owner of the Flying Rhino Café in Worcester. He said having to spend time handling more empties — putting them back in the container the distributor brought them in so they go back to the right place — would add to his costs, and he would also have to find room to store the extra containers. As a result, he “could see possibly passing some of [the added cost] along” to customers, he said. An expanded bottle bill would also affect Barber’s catering business, forcing him to spend more time transporting returnables.
Ben Harvey, senior vice president of E.L. Harvey & Sons, a waste hauler and recycler in Westborough, also opposes the measure. He said expanding the number of containers covered under the law could reduce the amount of valuable materials like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and aluminum his company collects from municipal curbside recycling programs. If that were to happen, he added, Harvey might have to charge cities and towns more to collect recyclable materials. “Can we do it? Sure, but there’s going to be a cost.”
Better Luck Next Time?
In spite of all this, some Central Massachusetts legislators said the bill is unlikely to pass in the current session. Opposed by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, the measure was to have been reported out of committee by this point, but State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, a supporter, is not optimistic the Legislature will act on it, which he called “very frustrating.”
Eldridge said his constituents favor it, and called it “the closing of a loophole” that has resulted from a change in people’s consumption habits. Since the 1980s, when the current bottle legislation was passed, he pointed out, non-carbonated soft drinks have become much more popular.
Though he believes businesses’ costs would not rise significantly with an expansion, Eldridge said the Senate leadership doesn’t support the bill, and he thinks opponents may keep it stalled.
State Rep. Matthew Beaton, R-Shrewsbury, expressed ambivalence about the bill and agreed with DeLeo, who has called the measure a tax. However, Beaton said he favors adding a deposit to water and juice containers “in the context of needing to do something” to increase recycling and keep materials, especially plastics, out of the waste stream. He believes expanding the current bottle law would increase the amount of recyclable materials.
If the House gets a chance to vote on it, he plans to file an amendment calling for unclaimed deposit money to be returned to distributors to offset the cost of a hike in the handling fee distributors pay to redemption centers and others that handle returned bottles and cans. “Is this bill a revenue bill, or is it an environmental bill?” Beaton challenged. He went on to say that he thinks such an amendment would “make [the bill] a much easier pill to swallow” for a number of his fellow legislators who oppose it.
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