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[GreenYes] HAWAI'I BECOMES 11TH BOTTLE BILL STATE




NEWS RELEASE

June 26, 2002			Contact:  Pat Franklin  (703) 276-9800

			Hawaii Becomes 11th Bottle Bill State

First state to enact beverage container deposit law since California, in
1986


Arlington, VA (June 26, 2002) – Hawaii Governor Benjamin J. Cayetano made
history yesterday when he signed the nation’s 11th bottle bill into law.
According to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), deposit laws, or
“bottle bills,” have been proposed in nearly every U.S. state, but no new
container deposit law has been enacted since 1986, when California became
the 10th state requiring refundable deposits on beverage containers.

“The victory in Hawaii will breathe new life into the campaign to conserve
resources and make beverage producers responsible for their packaging
waste,” said Pat Franklin, Executive Director of CRI.  “The Hawaii
legislature and Governor Cayetano said ‘no’ to the arguments and campaign
contributions of the politically powerful beverage industry lobby and
‘yes’ to a system that has a proven record of success in reducing litter
and waste.”

The bottle bill debate pitted all four of Hawaii’s county mayors, the state
Department of Health, the state Director of Environmental Quality,
Honolulu’s recycling coordinator and the Sierra Club against Hawaii
Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling, an organization representing the food
and beverage industries and funded by the Washington, DC-based National Soft
Drink Association.

Bottle bill supporters estimate that Coke, Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch and other
corporations, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on full-page newspaper
ads, radio and TV advertising, and an aggressive legislative lobbying effort
to prevent passage of the bottle bill.  According to Jeff Mikulina, Director
of the Sierra Club, Hawai`i Chapter, the lead group in the grassroots effort
to pass the bottle bill, bottle bill supporters were outspent many times
over.  “But in the end”, said Mikulina, “our lawmakers voted for a cleaner
Hawai`i.”

After numerous legislative hearings in 2001 and 2002, the bottle bill passed
the House and Senate on May 1st by votes of 50 to 37 and 25 to19,
respectively.  “The beverage industry's 30year old recycled arguments
against
the bottle bill were just not credible, ” said Rep. Hermina Morita, sponsor
of
the Hawaii bottle bill.

The Hawaii bottle bill would impose a nickel deposit on all beverage cans
and
bottles except milk beginning in 2005.  The deposits would be refunded to
consumers when the beverage containers are returned for recycling.  The bill
also phases in an additional charge of up to one and a half cents per
beverage
container that the state Health Department would use to support recycling.

Originally enacted primarily as a litter reduction measure thirty years ago
in Oregon, the bottle bill has far broader environmental implications.  CRI
estimates that if the U.S. could increase beverage container recycling from
the current national rate of approximately 40 percent to at least 80
percent,
a rate that has been reached in most bottle bill states, we could save the
energy equivalent of 42 million barrels of crude oil, or enough energy to
meet
the electrical needs of 7 million U.S. homes.

Bottle bill states are achieving beverage container recycling rates above
72 percent on average according to CRI, and a report released in January by
Businesses and Environmentalists Allied for Recycling (BEAR) found that the
10 states are recycling more cans and bottles than the 40 non-bottle bill
states combined.

	Sixteen states introduced container deposit legislation in 2001 or 2002
and seven bottle bill states tried to expand their laws to include more
containers.  On the national level, Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) introduced
The
National Beverage Producer Responsibility Act of 2002, which would require
beverage producers to collect a 10-cent deposit on every beverage
container sold and achieve a recycling rate of 80 percent for their cans and
bottles.

 “As more beverages are being consumed away from home, and away from the
convenience of curbside recycling bins, beverage container waste is growing.
In response to this increased wasting, the idea of producer responsibility
is
gaining in popularity,” said Franklin.  “We expect to see at least 20 states
introduce some type of container deposit legislation in 2003.”



The Container Recycling Institute is a nonprofit research and public
education
organization that studies container and packaging issues, and advocates
policies that reduce packaging waste.   For more information on bottle bills
and container recycling, visit our websites:
www.bottlebill.org and www.container-recycling.org


						###



****************************************
Patricia Franklin
Executive Director
Container Recycling Institute
1911 N. Fort Myer Drive, Ste. 702
Arlington, VA 22209

TEL:   703.276.9800
FAX:   703.276.9587
EMAIL: pfranklin@container-recycling.org

http://www.container-recycling.org
http://www.bottlebill.info
****************************************

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