|
Isle bottle bill
fees start up, but
refunds must wait
Redemption centers will open
across the state on Jan. 1
Starting Monday, you might have to shell out another 6 cents for each can of soda or bottle of beer you buy.
Redeeming qualities
Highlights of Hawaii's new "bottle law":
What containers will be redeemable under the Hawaii Beverage Container Law? Beverage containers, including plastic, glass and aluminum or metal that hold 64 ounces or less. This includes all nonalcoholic drinks, such as soda, juice, water, tea and coffee, except milk or dairy products. It also includes beer, malt beverages and mixed spirits or mixed wine. Not included are wine and straight liquor. Only containers marked with "HI 5-cent Dep" are redeemable. They must be clean and not crushed. Where and when will the containers be redeemable? The state will name redemption centers on each island before Jan. 1, when deposits will be redeemable. Many of the sites will be existing recycling facilities. The sites will be announced in newspaper advertisements and listed online as they are named.
|
It will depend on whether your purchase has been labeled to comply with Hawaii's new Beverage Container Law. If it has, you'll have to pay the 5-cent refundable deposit and 1-cent nonrefundable container fee that the "bottle bill" imposes.
And if you want that 5-cent deposit back, you'll have to store the bottle or can until Jan. 1, when redemption centers are open.
The two months of phase-in of the Beverage Container Law was designed to make it easier for distributors and retailers to get all their products labeled. So, for the next two months, shoppers could find that one bottle on a shelf has the new label, while the one next to it doesn't.
With the slogan "It's good for you. It's good for the aina," the state will begin promoting the Beverage Container Law in newspaper ads statewide on Sunday and with radio ads Monday and in-store fliers on Wednesday.
"We're looking forward to it," said Tom Reed, president of Aloha Glass Recycling on Maui. "It's a good thing to do, we believe, and will help keep beverage containers out of our landfills."
Not everyone feels that way, including many members of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, which represents major supermarkets, mom-and-pop stores and distributors, said Executive Director Ed Thompson.
Businesses fear customer confusion in the phase-in period and anger about having to wait to get refunds, Thompson said, because the state has not educated the public about the program.
The Sierra Club, which backed the bottle bill through the state Legislature, also is disappointed that the state's education campaign did not start sooner.
"We have concerns they're going to make it more difficult than it needs to be, by not providing the public with information to make it go smoothly," Jeff Mikulina said yesterday. "We're supposed to start paying nickels in three or four days and still haven't seen any outreach to inform the public."
Reed, whose company will bid to run several redemption centers on Maui, predicted, "There's going to be a lot of growing pains."
"But I believe the state is really doing the best they can. The Department of Health people are really working hard to make this work," Reed said.
 |
The department recently contracted media consultant Jan Nagano to oversee a $900,000 marketing and education plan and has added three new employees to administer the Beverage Container Law, said Larry Lau, deputy director of Environmental Health. Four more new hires are expected by the end of the year, he said.
Meanwhile, Maui and Big Island governments are soliciting bidders to operate those counties' redemption centers, said Eileen O'Hora-Weir, Big Island recycling coordinator.
Maui, the Big Island and Kauai are each hoping to start with five redemption centers in January, with the possibility of adding more on the Big Island, officials said.
On Oahu, Honolulu recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones said she is expecting 40 redemption centers on Oahu, based on comments from existing recyclers who have applied to run them.
The state should start approving redemption centers in two weeks and will have enough in place to start refunds on Jan. 1, Lau said. The number of centers is expected to grow throughout 2005, he said.
"I don't think the public should expect it to be smooth," said Jones, who lived in New York City when New York state implemented a bottle bill two decades ago. "I expect it to go into place with klinks and klunks during (the) first few months. But by end of first year, people are going to say, 'I don't know what the fuss was. This works great!'"
Jones believes that the Beverage Container Law will reduce litter across the state and provide a recycling rate of up to 80 percent for the 800 million beverage containers used in Hawaii each year.
The beverage industry's Thompson is not as optimistic, calling the law "a very expensive way to teach people to recycle" while "only reducing volume to the landfill by 7 percent."
Still, he said, his members are "working to make it work efficiently and as best as possible and to make this whole system work."
