FACT SHEET on Beverage Producer Responsibility Act

What is the Beverage Producer Responsibility Act?

The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act provides a new and unique approach to solving the problem of beverage container waste that addresses concerns of industry stakeholders without compromising the public interest. The bill, sponsored by Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, sets an 80 percent national recycling goal for all beverage containers except milk, but allows the beverage industry to develop their own system for achieving that goal. The bill also requires a 10-cent deposit, as an incentive for consumers to recycle their used beverage containers.

Why is the Beverage Producer Responsibility Bill needed?

PROBLEM: Beverage container waste increased more than 50 percent between 1992 and 1999. Americans now waste more than 100 billion beverage containers every year (114 billion in 1999). The ”downstream” costs to the environment and society of littered, incinerated and landfilled containers are significant, but the ”upstream” costs of making new cans and bottles from virgin materials are far greater.

SOLUTION: An 80 percent national recycling rate for beverage containers would save the equivalent of more than 40 million barrels of oil a year, or enough electricity to meet the needs of 7 million households for a year. Millions of tons of toxic waste and greenhouse gas emissions would also be eliminated.

PROBLEM: Local government and taxpayers are subsidizing corporations that are profiting from throwaway beverage containers. Wasted beverage containers represent a hidden tax because most landfills, incinerators, and litter cleanup programs are taxpayer-funded. Even if containers are recovered through municipal curbside recycling programs, they still represent a tax burden, because curbside programs are almost always funded by local government.

SOLUTION: When beverage producers take responsibility for their beverage container waste, the external costs of litter cleanup, disposal and curbside recycling are shifted from government and taxpayers to producers and consumers of the products.

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FACT: For 30 years, beverage container deposit laws have achieved the highest recycling rates in the nation, but industry opposition has stifled application of this approach beyond eleven states (including Hawaii, whose new deposit law takes effect in 2005).

FACT: Together, beer and carbonated soft drinks account for 75 percent of packaged beverage sales in the United States. However, the fastest growing segment of the beverage market is bottled water, juices, teas and other non-carbonated beverages. Only 3 of the deposit states include these “new age”drinks in their bottle bills.

FACT: The ten existing deposit law states (population 82 million) recycle more bottles and cans than the forty non-deposit states (population 200 million).

FACT: Our research shows that beverage container waste increased 50 percent from 1992 to 1999, despite an increase in curbside recycling programs from 5,386 to 9,349 during that period.