Today's Topics:
A 10-CENT INCENTIVE TO RECYCLE
Zero Waste Georgia Style, Part 2
Send Replies or notes for publication to: <greenyes@UCSD.Edu>
Send subscription requests to: <greenyes-Digest-Request@UCSD.Edu>
Problems you can't solve otherwise to postmaster@ucsd.edu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 96 17:28:28 PST
From: jennie.alvernaz@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
Subject: A 10-CENT INCENTIVE TO RECYCLE
As most of you on this list know, Coca-Cola has been a leader nationally
in attempts to defeat product responsibility legislation in the form of
bottle-deposit legislation, through direct political action and through
sponsorship of Keep America Beautiful and its many local and state
affiliates funded with taxpayer dollars. Recently Coke CEO Robert
Goizueta boasted that his corporation sells almost a billion containers
of soda every day, world wide. Therefore, you may be interested
that our major newspaper (circulation 1.5 million) today endorsed a bottle
bill for Georgia.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial, Sunday, December 15, 1996:
A 10-CENT INCENTIVE TO RECYCLE
One of the first signs that American attitudes toward the
environment were changing came in the mid-1960s, with the anti-
litter campaign begun by first lady Lady Bird Johnson. Millions of
Americans enlisted in a crusade to eliminate the trash -- beer cans,
bottles, paper bags -- that disfigured the otherwise beautiful
countryside.
Unfortunately, a glance along Georgia's roads and highways will
tell you that 30 years later, the battle is far from won. But
reinforcement may be on the way from a Senate study committee,
which has been holding hearings around the state on recycling and
solid waste issues.
The committee has been wrestling with the question of how to
reduce the amount of recyclable material still making its way into
Georgia's landfills. In 1992, the state gave local governments four
years to reduce the amount of trash put into landfills by 25 percent.
That deadline has passed, and most local governments have come
nowhere near that goal. In many cases the amount of trash being
put into landfills actually increased.
Among the ideas suggested to the committee to address the
problem is a bottle-deposit bill. In the 10 states that have adopted
such programs, more than 80 percent of glass, aluminum and
plastic beverage containers are now recycled instead of ending up
in landfills or along the highway.
We have tried a moral approach to the problem, with endless
preaching that it is wrong to litter and it is responsible to recycle.
We have tried the legal approach as well, creating fines for littering
and trying to push citizens into recycling. Both efforts have been
successful, but only to a point.
By putting a refundable deposit of a nickle or dime on each
container, we create an economic incentive that in turn produces an
environmentally responsible outcome. The profit motive, after all,
is usually more effective at changing behavior than are sermons or
poorly enforced laws.
The study committee chairwoman, state Sen. Donzella James (D-
College Park), to her credit, is considering a bill for the next session
of the Legislature that would give Georgia an effective bottle-
deposit program. The committee's final meeting is scheduled for
Monday at 6 p.m. in Room 307 of the Legislative Office Building in
Atlanta.
Opponents of the bottle-deposit program are already organizing
against it. If the proposal is to have a chance, those who support
the idea also need to make their opinion known.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 96 17:12:06 PST
From: jennie.alvernaz@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
Subject: Zero Waste Georgia Style, Part 2
WHY GEORGIANS WANT A ... BOTTLE BILL
Throw-Away Cans and Bottles are a WASTE
Georgians do not like to waste. But we are forced to waste most of
the 3.5 BILLION single-use cans and bottles we buy every year
because we lack strong recycling collection programs in much of our
state. Every year, over 2 BILLION of these cans and bottles end up in
our landfills or on our beaches, playgrounds, country roads and city
streets.
Bottle Bills CREATE INCOME AND JOBS
In 1960, almost all beer and soft drink containers sold in Georgia were
returnable for a deposit. Collecting bottles for deposits meant
important, instant income for poor people and taught others the value
of thrift. Returnable cans and bottles mean many more local jobs than
landfilling that material, particularly at redemption centers. * Beer
and soda companies complain that a bottle bill will reduce sales and
cause hardship to their companies. Yet the New York Times recently
reported that one individual, Coca-Cola CEO Robert Goizueta, has
earned over a BILLION dollars - and on 95 percent of that he has yet
to pay a penny of tax to the State of Georgia!
Bottle Bills REDUCE LITTER
Litter is a serious problem. Broken beer bottles and unsightly
containers are a blight in inner city neighborhoods, on our beaches,
and along our roads and highways. States with bottle bills have half
as much litter on beaches as states without bottle bills - despite highly
publicized voluntary litter cleanup efforts.
Throw-Away Cans and Bottles are CORPORATE WELFARE
When beverage containers had deposits, beer and soda companies
took responsibility for proper disposal of their products. Today,
those same beer and soda companies have discovered that they can
profit more by putting the disposal cost on taxpayers and local
governments.
* FORCING taxpayers to pay for landfilling single-use containers
amounts to a CORPORATE SUBSIDY.
* Georgia's local and state governments now pay millions of dollars
annually to pick up roadside and beach litter - more CORPORATE
WELFARE.
* Parents pay needless hospital bills for children cut by broken bottles
- a CORPORATE SUBSIDY.
* Farmers pay dearly for broken harvesting equipment and
contaminated loads caused by discarded cans and bottles - more
CORPORATE WELFARE.
* Making new containers - especially plastic and aluminum - from
raw materials causes immense pollution and depends on huge
CORPORATE SUBSIDIES.
Beer and soda companies talk about forced deposits. But forcing
taxpayers to pay for landfilling and litter cleanup is really the issue -
the lack of manufacturer responsibility for products.
BOTTLE BILLS WORK!
'Bottle Bills' provide incentives to recycle by adding return deposits
for beverage containers. States with bottle bills recycle more than
twice as many containers as states without bottle bills. 85 percent of
beverage containers in the ten bottle bill states are recycled, but only
40 percent of containers in non-bottle bill states are recycled. In
Georgia, with our poorly developed recycling collection
infrastructure, the beverage container recycling rate is surely lower
than 40 percent. The rest becomes litter or is landfilled at
considerable cost to taxpayers.
Bottle Bills are COMPATIBLE with CURBSIDE RECYCLING
PROGRAMS
Big increases in container recycling were made following the
introduction of bottle bills in ten states. Since 1986, new bottle bills
have been successfully opposed by large beer and soda companies
and their industry associations. During this time, curbside recycling
has expanded dramatically, yet container recycling rates have not
increased significantly. In other words, deposit systems are far more
effective than curbside programs for recycling beverage containers -
particularly plastic and glass bottles, which cause problems for
curbside programs due to their high bulk and low value. Unclaimed
deposits are used to support curbside programs in Massachusetts and
California.
GEORGIANS WANT A BOTTLE BILL
The beverage industry spent millions of dollars spreading half-truths
and misinformation in states that considered bottle bills. Industry
typically outspent proponents by huge margins, yet the truth won out
over Goliath in ten states. Polls show that over three quarters of
Americans want a container deposit system. But we must voice our
support or our legislators will not -- and cannot -- act.
TAKE ACTION
WRITE YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS TODAY and ask them to
SUPPORT a Bottle Bill for GEORGIA (Call your county voter
registration office to find out who your public employees are in the
State legislature.)
COPY YOUR LETTER TO:
* Governor Zell Miller, 203 State Capitol, Atlanta GA 30334
* Lt. Governor Pierre Howard, 240 State Capitol, Atlanta GA 30334
* Senator Donzella James, Chair, Study Committee on Recycling and
Economic Development, 320 LOB, Atlanta GA 30334
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
* Bob Woodall, Georgia Sierra Club, 158 Springdale Dr., Atlanta, GA
30305; Tel 404-266-0820; bob.woodall@mindspring.org, or
* Bill Sheehan, Grassroots Recycling Network, Tel & Fax: 706-208-
1416; bill.sheehan@sierraclub.org.
NOTE: Information in this flyer on beverage containers and bottle
bills was obtained from the Container Recycling Institute, 1400 16th
Street NW, #250, Washington DC 20036-2217; Tel 202-797-6839.
------------------------------
End of GreenYes Digest V96 #50
******************************