Re: [greenyes] Gov Romeny proposes expansion of MA bottle bill

[lkingeco2@no.address]

Dear Bottle Bill Supporters,

Governor Mitt Romney's budget proposal is the strongest sign to date that the 
bottle bill provides a way to improve recycling at no cost to taxpayers.  We 
need to make the case that refundable deposits are a proven means to shift 
cost from taxpayers and government to product manufacturers/distributors and 
consumers.

The BEAR report shows that deposits and curbside combined are far better than 
curbside alone.  Ten states with deposits recycle more than the other 40 
states combined.

Clearly the current state and local financial crisis has created new 
opportunities.  We've seen it in New York State and now in Massachusetts.  
Governor Romney is a national political figure and a star in the Republican 
Party.

Imagine both Massachusetts and New York enacting bottle bill expansion 
programs before the end of 2004.

In Michigan, Governor Granholm strongly supports expansion.  She is a star in 
the Democratic Party.

So the support for bottle bill expansion cuts across party lines.  That's 
important in the current policy debates around the nation.

The Michigan State Senate has started bottle bill hearings.  The largest 
conservation group in the state (MUCC) is prepared to launch an initiative 
campaign in 2004, if the legislature fails to enact expansion this year.  
Michigan's original bottle bill was passed by initiative and the state has 
the highest deposit (10-cents)/highest recycling rate (above 90 percent).

I can't remember a time when bottle bills have achieved such prominence so 
early in the year, with such strong backing, in the last 20 years.  It's an 
ideal time to talk reinvigorate the recycling debate, with the real 
possibility of a series of state victories.

Pat, thanks for staying on top of this and posting the information about the 
Boston Globe article.

Cheers,

Lance King