House committee postpones
action on isle ‘bottle bill’

The measure would impose
a 7 cent per bottle or can fee

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Like the beverage containers it hopes to recycle, Hawaii's "bottle bill" has come around again in a new form at the state Legislature.

Yesterday's appearance for the bill that would charge a 7-cent fee for cans and bottles was before the House Finance Committee. Senate Bill 2266, Senate Draft 1, House Draft 1, was supported by the same groups that have supported a bottle bill for years: Hawaii's Sierra Club, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, the state Department of Health, state Office of Environmental Quality Control, each of the state's four counties and a variety of individuals.

It was opposed by the same groups as well: local arms of the Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch bottling companies, as well as the Hawaii Food Industry Association, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and local plastics manufacturer Pacific Allied Products.

Last night, the committee postponed a decision on the bill until next week.

Lowell Kalapa of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii testified that his organization opposes the bill because its fee of 7 cents per bottle or can is actually a tax increase.

Thirteen individuals testified yesterday in favor of the bottle bill, backed by written testimony of more than 165 Hawaii residents and a dozen or so nonresidents. Six organizations testified against the bill yesterday.

Henry Curtis, president of Life of the Land, said the reason a bottle bill has not passed in Hawaii or 39 other states that keep trying is "the hundreds of millions of dollars the beverage industry has spent to stop them. If they'd just used that money for recycling, we could have solved this problem long ago."

Ed Thompson, representing the Hawaii Food Industry Association, said the bill requires "forced deposits that would cost consumers $26 million, disproportionately affecting senior citizens and the poor."

University of Hawaii student Chris Martelles said that even with a $13,000-a-year income, he would gladly pay a little more for beverages if it would help clean up litter.

Genevieve Salmonson, director of state Environmental Quality Control, called the bill "efficient and workable for businesses, government and residents in Hawaii."

Shannon Wood, editor of the Koolau News, said it has been 32 years since she first testified in favor of a bottle bill for Hawaii. "In my naivete, I thought it would take two or three legislative sessions to get a bottle bill passed.

"How many more years do we have to wait for this legislation to pass? Please pass it in my lifetime."

Senate Bill 2266 offers, with slight modifications, almost the same plan as House Bill 1256, House Draft 2, Senate Draft 2, which remains in a conference committee from the 2001 session and could be revived. Both propose collecting a fee of 7 cents per bottle or can, then refunding 5 cents of that to anyone bringing in the empties. The 2 cents would pay for the cost of the program.

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