http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/plan-would-expand-bottle-bill-double-the-nickel-deposit by Scott Learn, The Oregonian http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/plan-would-expand-bottle-bill-double-the-nickel-deposit Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:09:06 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/sessions-green-legislation-praised By David Steves http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/sessions-green-legislation-praised Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:36:20 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/a-safe-place-to-dump-computers http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/a-safe-place-to-dump-computers Wed, 30 May 2007 21:51:25 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/ore_-lawmakers-back-expanded-bottle-bill By BRAD CAIN Associated Press Writer News Fuze SALEM, http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/ore_-lawmakers-back-expanded-bottle-bill Fri, 25 May 2007 17:57:32 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/house-backs-bottle-bill-expansion SALEM (AP) - A measure to add plastic bottles http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/house-backs-bottle-bill-expansion Fri, 25 May 2007 18:01:00 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/house-approves-bottle-bill-expansion SALEM — If you buy bottled water, you’ll be paying a nickel deposit on each container starting in January 2009. The http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/house-approves-bottle-bill-expansion Fri, 25 May 2007 18:02:58 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/two-key-environmental-bills-on-way-to-governor Shunning attempts to send legislation updating Oregon's 1971 Bottle http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/two-key-environmental-bills-on-way-to-governor Fri, 25 May 2007 18:04:13 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/senate-approves-bottle-bill-requiring-5-cent-deposit-for-plastic-water-containers SALEM, http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/senate-approves-bottle-bill-requiring-5-cent-deposit-for-plastic-water-containers Fri, 25 May 2007 18:07:32 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/ore2_-lawmakers-back-expanded-bottle-bill By BRAD CAIN http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/ore2_-lawmakers-back-expanded-bottle-bill Fri, 25 May 2007 18:14:50 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/oregon-lawmakers-endorse-move-to-expand-bill-requiring-bottle-deposit-to-include-water-bottles The Associated Press SALEM, Oregon: The Oregon bottle bill of 1971, the http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/oregon-lawmakers-endorse-move-to-expand-bill-requiring-bottle-deposit-to-include-water-bottles Fri, 25 May 2007 18:20:59 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/house-adds-deposit-to-water-bottles http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/house-adds-deposit-to-water-bottles Fri, 25 May 2007 18:39:28 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/grocers-float-a-new-bottle-bill-proposal The main opponents to expanding Oregon's bottle bill have changed tactics in the 11th hour of the legislative session. Instead of opposing any expansion, the Northwest Grocery Association is proposing a major overhaul of the entire bottle-bill system. The grocery association, which represents about 1,100 grocery outlets across the state, announced Wednesday that it would support expanding Oregon's bottle bill to include all beverage containers -- not just the water-bottles-only proposal as written in Senate Bill 707-A. The caveat: Collection of the containers would be moved out of grocery stores -- and into separate, state-run redemption centers. Also, the funding mechanism would change. "I am glad to see they have finally come to the table and are supporting a bottle bill, because they have been opposed all along," said Rep. Jackie Dingfelder, D-Portland, who chairs the house committee that is discussing the bottle bill. "But it's very late in the session to be able to craft legislation given our short time frame left." Dingfelder said SB 707-A, which already has passed the Senate, has amendments that would require a task force to address many of the grocers' issues. Recycling advocates said they were wary of the grocers' proposal. "Grocers have been unwilling to talk about any improvements to Oregon's bottle bill including redemption centers, including adding containers, so the question we have to ask is, 'What has changed now?' " said Jeremiah Baumann of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group. "Is this a workable proposal or does it make too many fundamental changes to a system that works?" Baumann also said the proposed funding likely would not be enough to establish new redemption centers and run them. The current system eliminates a lot of overhead costs because collection is done in grocery stores. Empty containers are picked up by distributors already making trips to the grocery stores, he said. Distributors currently charge grocery stores a nickel deposit. Grocery stores charge customers, and customers get five cents back when they return their containers. Distributors pay the grocery store a nickel for every returned container. Under the new proposal, distributors are taken out of the five-cent-deposit loop and replaced with grocery stores. "From a distributor's standpoint, they take us totally out of the system, which is fine," said Paul Romain, a lobbyist for the Oregon Beer & Wine Distributors Association. "But the question is, what kind of system are you setting up? The only thing we fear is if the system doesn't work, they are going to want us to come back in." Romain added that the number of places to return containers would be reduced dramatically, potentially reducing recycling rates. Wednesday's proposal calls for grocers to make payments in lieu of collecting the containers themselves. Under this funding plan, retailers would transfer the nickel (paid by the consumer), plus a 3-cent-per-container handling fee, to the state -- an estimated $60 million a year. In return, the state would run the redemption centers. The proposal calls for the centers to be established by Jan. 1, 2010. Grocers for years have complained about sanitation and space issues and have pushed to get the collection of beverage containers out of their stores. "We are trying to manage fresh produce, fresh meat and bakery goods while managing a recycling center in the same building," said Joe Gilliam of the Northwest Grocery Association during an interview in April. In the announcement Wednesday, he said the current proposal to add water bottles and keep collection in grocery stores would be a "massive failure." "If the legislature chooses to reject our alternative, we will take it to the ballot for voter approval," Gilliam said. http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/grocers-float-a-new-bottle-bill-proposal Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:28:20 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/new-recycling-estimate-spares-plastics-makers SALEM (AP) - A new estimate of recycling in Oregon has spared manufacturers more stringent requirements for plastic bottles and containers. In December the Department of Environmental Quality said that the plastic recycling rate had dropped below 25 percent, as measured by an estimate for 2005. That made manufacturers unhappy. They would have had to increase the recycled content of their bottles, use bottles made of materials that are recycled at a rate of more than 25 percent or use bottles that can be refilled at least five times. But Tuesday, the department said new information and corrections changed the 2005 recycling rate to 25.3 percent, three-tenths of a percentage point above the threshold. It said it estimates the rate for 2007 to be the same. "Obviously, we are ... pleased that the recalculation shows we are not in immediate jeopardy," said Pat McCormick of the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Food Products Association. The department said its samples at sorting facilities incorrectly judged the amount of plastic recycled and that a private recycling company misreported 500 tons of rigid plastic containers. It said it expected new, larger recycling bins in Beaverton, Gresham, Forest Grove and Hillsboro to push up the recycling rate this year. Peter Spendelow, an analyst at DEQ, said estimating recycling rates is so complicated it takes state experts almost two years to analyze the numbers they receive from recyclers, sorting facilities and garbage haulers. A recycling advocate said quibbling over a percentage point or two misses the larger picture. "Somewhere around a quarter of our plastics are getting recycled right now, and that is unacceptable," said Jeremiah Baumann of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group. "The reality is that 25 percent is a pretty low threshold, and plastics recycling is on the decline in Oregon. And that is why it is so important that we do things like expand the bottle bill and improve recycling programs." http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/new-recycling-estimate-spares-plastics-makers Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:38:52 -0500 http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/senate-oks-h2o-bottle-deposit SALEM -- Oregonians would have to plunk down a nickel for every bottle of water they buy under a bill that passed the state Senate Monday. By a 23-7 vote and without much debate, the Senate endorsed what would be the first update to Oregon's landmark law in 36 years. Senate Bill 707 proposes to add bottled water and bottles containing flavored water to the list of containers requiring a deposit. The bill now moves to the House, where it may be expanded further. Rep. Jackie Dingfelder, chairwoman of the Energy and Environment Committee, said Monday that she's willing to consider adding not just water bottles but other beverage containers to the law, which was the first deposit law in the nation. Interviewed minutes after the Senate vote, Dingfelder said she's also willing to talk about increasing the nickel deposit when her committee holds hearings early next month. "I absolutely support updating the Bottle Bill," said Dingfelder, D-Portland. "The question is: Are the changes made in the Senate enough?" House Speaker Jeff Merkley, D-Portland, had wanted a Bottle Bill update that included more than water bottles, his spokesman said Monday. But ultimately, Dingfelder said, politics will decide how far legislators go in updating the Bottle Bill this session. Two powerful groups -- the grocers and the distributors -- oppose many of the changes. Recycling advocates had started the 2007 session hoping to expand the Bottle Bill to include not only beer and pop but all drink containers. They also hoped to persuade lawmakers to raise the nickel deposit, which took effect in 1972 and would be a quarter if it had been adjusted for inflation. But strong industry opposition led supporters to scale back their ambitions. Under the bill passed Monday by the Senate, only water bottles would be added as of Jan. 1, 2009. Future increases in the deposit amount and other issues would be settled by a task force that would report back before the 2009 Legislature begins. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality estimates that Oregonians purchased more than 186 million water bottles in 2005. Of those, 61 million -- about a third -- were recycled. More than 125 million plastic water bottles were tossed in the trash. Advocates argue that adding a deposit to water bottles would reflect key Oregon values -- decreased litter and increased recycling. During Monday's floor debate, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, asked his colleagues to join him in supporting "one of the hallmarks of our state." "I am proud today to vote for legislation that is the essence of what it means to be an Oregonian," Courtney said. "This legislation is a part of Oregon's DNA, and although I am not a native Oregonian, at least I can say I voted for Oregon's Bottle Bill." Courtney also noted that more Republicans than Democrats voted for the original Bottle Bill back in 1971. On Monday, four of the 11 Senate Republicans joined 18 Democrats and one independent in supporting the bill. A few who debated against the bill said adding water bottles to the redeemable mix would only increase the burden for grocers. Stores are already dealing with the dirt and germs that come in with returned bottles and cans, said Sen. Larry George, R-Sherwood. "Though the goal is honorable, the result is not going to be what makes Oregonians proud." Grocers also object to language that would allow consumers to bring back redeemable bottles or cans to any retailer and not only to where the beverages were purchased. "It's going to be more complex, probably involve manual sorting and a more expensive system," said Joe Gilliam, lobbyist for the Northwest Grocery Association. Until Monday's vote, lobbyists have focused their attention mostly on the Senate. Today, Gilliam said, the grocers would start meeting and talking to House members. Recycling advocates will be meeting with House members, too. They would love to see the Bottle Bill expanded further, said Jeremiah Baumann, lobbyist for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group. But after 36 years, Baumann said advocates also would be thrilled to see a water bottle-only bill passed. Even that, he said, "would be a historic expansion." http://www.environmentoregon.org/in-the-news/recycling/recycling/senate-oks-h2o-bottle-deposit Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:31:36 -0500