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Senate bill would
place a deposit on
many products
made of plastic
Recyclers would get the levy
By Lori Tighe
back; opponents say it will
drive up consumer prices
Star-Bulletin
Plastics are everywhere in Hawaii: in the mouths of marine animals, in storm drains, in the water.
Volunteers statewide collected 100 tons of litter on a single day last fall -- most of it was plastic.
A bill before the Senate Labor and Environment Committee tomorrow would put a deposit on plastics, to be recouped by recyclers. Opponents say the bill, SB647, could make plate lunches and other consumer goods that use plastic containers more expensive.
"We believe that our constant, day-in- and-day-out efforts to rid the environment of plastics cost more than any advance deposit fees will ever add to consumers' direct costs -- not to mention revenue lost because visitors think our cities, our towns, our countryside, our waterways and our beaches are uglified by plastic litter," said Eugene Dashiell, an environmental consultant with Environmental Planning Services in Honolulu.
Dashiell, who rallied the public by way of the Internet for testimony supporting the bill, is the former coordinator for the Ala Wai Watershed Water Quality Improvement Project. The project's report recommended reducing the volume of plastic litter to improve the Ala Wai's water quality.
The deposit fee -- about 0.1 cent per item -- is similar in concept to deposits on aluminum cans, car batteries and tires in other states, Dashiell said.
The fee encourages people to recycle aluminum cans and "you hardly ever see aluminum cans on the street anymore," he said.
The same concept could work for plastics in Hawaii, proponents say.
"The bill is a real positive push to help a huge, huge problem," said Christine Woolaway, who helps with the "Get the drift and bag it," annual beach litter removal project. "If we can get people to collect plastics and turn them in, maybe we can get rid of this stuff."
Birds and marine mammals swallow it, choke on it and die from it, Woolaway said.
A plastics-recycling bill failed two years ago, and another never made it past committee last year, Dashiell said.
"The plastics industry will fight this tooth-and-nail. They will say it will cost Hawaii's consumers $10 million per year in added costs. The Oahu Plate Lunch Association will testify against the bill," Dashiell said.
The Oahu Plate Lunch Association was not available for comment yesterday. It testified against the bill two years ago, he said.
Waimanalo resident James Marcus said he is willing to pay the price. He has witnessed plastic litter grow over the years into a blight, he said.
"The whole Windward side is being inundated with plastics," he said. "The trash is out there in the ocean and it's growing."
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