Hello Jerry,
Mea culpa! Mea culpa! Mea culpa!
Please know that my comment was most
certainly not meant to condemn either the Task Force or its well thought out
recommendations. In retrospect, I should have prefaced my remark with a hearty
CONGRATULATIONS for banging out a solid set of recommendations with a
knowledgeable group of multi-stakeholders. While I would like to have seen a
recommendation that set dates and rates that came closer to 100 percent than
the suggested 80 percent, I appreciate the fact that ½ a loaf (or 80%) is
better than nothing. When one considers that PET water bottles are recycled at
about 20 percent nationwide, and presumably in Oregon too, an 80 percent goal would be a very
substantial increase in recovery and reduction in plastic bottle waste.
The reason I brought up Zero Waste at all
was that I sometimes get frustrated with the Zero Waste Mantra (though I
support it) when I know that of all the items in the waste stream that could achieve
Zero Waste (or mighty darn close—90-95% in Michigan) is beverage containers.
At the same time, aluminum beverage cans, probably THE most recyclable item,
has a recovery rate of only slightly more than 50 percent.
You (and the Task Force) done good Jerry!!
Real good!!!! You have the power of the Task Force behind a proposal to the
legislature to update the deposit law to include all non-carbonated beverages,
wine and liquor containers and to let the beverage industry use the unredeemed
deposits to make the collection system function effectively and efficiently. I
can live with an 80 percent recovery rate, especially knowing that you and
others in Oregon
will be working to raise the bar higher and higher.
I think we are probably closer to being on
the same page than not.
Warm regards,
Pat Franklin
patfarrellfranklin@no.address
From:
GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On Behalf Of Jerry Powell
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008
8:12 AM
To: greenyes@no.address
Subject: [GreenYes] Zero waste
goals alone are not enough
Pat Franklin's recent posting both compliments and condemns
the Oregon Bottle Bill Task Force for its recommendations. As a
Governor's appointee to that body, I suggest that Pat reconsider her criticism
that the recommended 80 percent redemption rate in the Task Force's
final report to the 2009 legislature doesn't represent zero waste for
beverage containers. Pat needs to do a little research before making such
comments.
Too many zero waste advocates see a governmetally-adopted
100-percent no-waste goal as a major achievement. In many cases, it
is not. I've seen way too many communities adopt such a zero waste goal,
and then do absolutely nothing to try to acheive it. Yet, in many of
those communties, zero-waste advocates claim victory, when in fact, they are
getting snookered. Goals without programs are merely words.
In Oregon,
we aim to raise the mandated redemption rate in steps towards zero
beverage waste. The plan is to attain the 80 percent goal, then raise it
to 90 percent and require that this level be attained. We'll
then move it higher again. That is a politically viable way of not
getting snookered and to realistically attain zero waste. In other words,
we have a well-defined strategy to attain the goal, and not just have the
goal by itself.
I'd also encourage folks to read the Task Force's final
report in which the beverage industry and grocers have agreed to fully fumd and
manage the recovery system, at no cost to the consumer or taxpayer. In
other words, true product stewardship.