The year 2007 saw a new bill introduced in North Carolina, "to address the blight that litter imposes on the highways and lands of this State, while creating incentives for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers of beverages in beverage containers to recycle and reuse beverage containers."
S 215, Litter Reduction Act of 2007
Senator Doug Berger (D)
Administering Agency: Department and the Commission for Health Services
Amount of Deposit: 10¢
Containers Covered: All ready-to-drink beverages in sealed containers 50 mL - 4L
Containers Returned to: Licensed Redemption Centers
Unclaimed Deposits: Retained by state in The Unredeemed Beverage Container Deposits Account
Handling Fee: 2% of refund value, paid by Department, to redemption center
Senate Bill 215 (The Litter Reduction Act of 2007) was introduced on February 20th. North Carolina’s 2007 bottle deposit proposal would have put a ten-cent deposit on beverage containers and established private redemption centers for consumers to return empties for recycling and to receive their refund.
The bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Doug Berger, a Youngsville Democrat and lawyer, cited the importance of creating an economic incentive to recycle and to pick up roadside litter. It has been estimated that, by weight or volume, discarded glass and plastic bottles are about half of the litter that befouls North Carolina's roadsides, sidewalks, parks and waterways.
The bill was debated in the Senate Commerce Committee, but no other action was taken on the proposal. Commerce Committee Chairman R.C. Soles was of the opinion that the bill would not pass this year. He suggested that a groundswell of support would be needed to consider the bill in the short session next year.
Senator Berger acknowledged that the bill would not receive a majority of the 26-member committee's votes because of opposition from more than two dozen corporations and powerful lobbying interests. Opponents of the bill flew in a Massachusetts consultant who regularly appears at legislative hearings across the country in opposition to bottle deposit proposals to criticize their litter-reducing potential.
Senator Berger said, "I have touched no bill since I have been in the legislature that was more popular with the people -- or more despised by the opposition. The impetus has got to come from people putting pressure on their legislators."
Some senators expressed frustration with North Carolina's growing litter problem. Last year the state spent $16.6 million to remove 10.1 million pounds of roadside litter. "What we're doing now is not working," Sen. Bill Purcell told his colleagues. The Massachusetts consultant suggested that the best way to reduce litter is to target advertisements to the young adults through advertising campaigns.
Wyatt McGhee, a retired Air Force colonel and chairman of Franklin County's Solid Waste Task Force, urged the committee to endorse the bottle deposit bill as a way to reduce litter. He testified that North Carolina could once again become ‘The Clean Roads State’ by passing this legislation. “The time has come to do something about it," he said.
Senator Doug Berger
(919) 715-8363
[email protected]
Wyatt McGhee
(919) 494-7361