Dive Brief:

• The Solid Waste Association of North America has updated its policy position to support deposit return systems as a key to increasing collection rates and reducing litter. Its policy focuses on “single use” beverage containers.
• SWANA supports bottle bill policies as long as they meet characteristics such as ensuring recyclers are allowed to participate in the system, allowing ownership of covered materials to be retained “by whomever possesses it” and designing the program so any generated funds are invested back into the system.
• SWANA also advocates for bottle bills that allow material collected curbside to be returned through deposit systems and have deposit values that are high enough to incentivize consumers to return the containers. It also calls for encouraging container designs that work effectively with existing recycling and reuse systems.

Dive Insight:

SWANA says the national conversation around container deposit systems has gained momentum in recent years, prompting the association to bring its own policy “into the 21st century, especially considering potential federal legislation on the topic,” said Allison Trulock, the SWANA board’s technical division director, in a statement.

The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, reintroduced last year, includes a national deposit return system provision, and several other recycling groups aim to gather support for a national bill. Meanwhile, Massachusetts, Washington, New Hampshire, Illinois, Maryland and other states have active bottle bill legislation in play this year.

SWANA’s previous policy statement addressed deposit systems in general terms but did not include container-specific program aspects such as deposit values or recyclers’ role in such systems.  

“With a growing urgency to address the escalating challenges posed by single-use packaging, policymakers on both sides of the border are exploring innovative solutions to enhance recycling rates and reduce the ecological footprint associated with disposable containers,” the updated policy states. 

A SWANA committee made up of individual professionals that work for haulers, county solid waste districts, equipment manufacturers and recycling advocacy groups drafted the new policy, including members from WM, TOMRA, EFS Plastics and the National Stewardship Action Council.

SWANA is among the recycling and waste groups that have recently published detailed reports calling for deposit return systems. Last year, Reloop published a report suggesting best practices for policymakers, producers and advocates to craft and pass more bottle bills. 

Not all organizations are on board with bottle bills. Some MRF operators say bottle bills create negative impacts on their recycling business, and the National Waste & Recycling Association says bottle bills divert valuable materials away from those facilities. NWRA opposes the implementation of a national bottle bill. 

In December, the Can Manufacturers Institute, a strong bottle bill supporter, published a report advocating for bottle bill legislation that compensates MRFs for negative financial impacts that deposit return systems might have on MRF operations. 

As a nonprofit professional organization, SWANA focuses on education and policy positions versus lobbying, whereas the structure of groups like NWRA allows for direct lobbying on legislation.

SWANA says an ideal DRS should “integrate into existing recycling infrastructure,” meaning recyclers should be allowed to participate in the system as a collection or redemption point. 

SWANA also advocates for recyclers to “have access to the value of the covered material,” and believes material collected through curbside systems should be eligible for redemption as long as it meets quality and cleanliness specifications and is allowed within any contractual obligations, the association said. California’s bottle bill system has a similar setup.

SWANA did not advocate for a specific deposit value amount, but said the DRS must have a high enough value on containers to incentivize returns and have flexibility to “account for market conditions and consumer behavior.” 

The association also believes that redemption center or drop-off sites should be chosen based on “private business transactions” instead of being mandated by government agencies. A variety of collection and redemption methods will make participation much more convenient, the policy position states. 

Other elements of the new policy statement call for worker and visitor safety and fraud prevention.