Dive Summary:
- Coca-Cola of Northern New England representatives in Vermont claim the statewide bottle deposit law, which mandates beverage companies pick up their bottles from redemption centers, is too costly for businesses.
- Coca-Cola maintains demand for used plastic is also greater than the amount of material Coca-Cola can provide, which may force those businesses to relocate.
- Coca-Cola suggested the beverage containers go directly to a traditional recycling company, eliminating the need for beverage companies to be involved in recycling; representatives surmise that the vast amount of money beverage companies are losing on this collection process would otherwise go to processing firms, such as Casella Waste Systems.
From the article:
The requirement in Vermont’s current Beverage Container Law, or “bottle bill,” that beverage companies pick up their containers from redemption centers adds an unnecessary expense to the company’s recycling programs, said David Larose, Vermont and New York state manager for Coca-Cola of Northern New England
Lauren Hierl, an environmental health advocate for Vermont Public Interest Research Group, (VPIRG) said the the bottle return rate under the program is about 75 percent. For traditional, curbside recycling where the plastic goes into a blue box and then is sent to a recycling facility, the diversion rate is about 35 percent, she said.
She said beverage companies should pay a fee to collect their bottles as an incentive to reduce the amount of waste they produce. The principle of “extended producer responsibility,” which means producers account for the long-term impact of their products, is a strategic component of the bill, she said.
