Container recycling is in trouble. The combined recycling rate for aluminum, plastic, and glass beverage containers fell from 53% in 1992 to 37% in 2002 . There are numerous reasons for this decline, including the following:
• There has been a dramatic increase in non-carbonated, single-serving, “new age” beverages on the market, such as sports drinks, juice drinks, coffees, teas and especially bottled water. In eight out of the ten U.S. bottle bill states, where beverage containers are recovered at rates above 70% or higher on average, non-carbonated drinks are not covered by the deposit law
• Beverages in single-serving containers, are increasingly consumed away from home, and away from the convenience of the curbside recycling bin;
• Even in deposit states, recycling rates have declined due to the diminished value of the nickel deposit.
• The major beverage producers, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch have not only failed to take any real, purposeful action to reverse the trend of increased beverage container waste, they continue to lobby against the only proven method for achieving 80% or higher recycling rates for beverage containers: deposit laws or bottle bills. Legislators, shareholders, and environmentalists are fighting back with new legislation and shareholder resolutions.
Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords introduced “The Beverage Producer Responsibility Act” in November 2003. The bill expands container deposit legislation to include wine, liquor, and the above-mentioned “new age” beverages, establishes a 10-cent deposit on every container, and allows the deposit value to rise with inflation. It also requires that every beverage brand owner achieve a national 80% recycling rate for their beverage containers. The Container Recycling Institute estimates that an 80% 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 about 7 million households for a year. There is a precedent for each of the bill's provisions in at least one existing state deposit law. Jeffords' bill would make producers and consumers responsible for their beverage packaging waste.