Bottle Bill: Time to Clean-Up Tennessee
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Recent surveys have found more than 80 percent of Tennesseans say they're ready for a five-cent deposit on beverage containers. Proponents say the Tennessee Beverage Container Recycling Act would create "green" jobs, boost tourism and reduce the amount of trash piling up in landfills.
Leslee Karl, president of Scenic Tennessee, says the Volunteer State would be the twelfth in the nation to place a deposit on non-recyclable bottles.
"What happens with these beverage containers is that they are consumed, usually outside the home, very quickly – and if there's not a receptacle right there, it's going to go out the window usually, or into a garbage can."
Karl predicts the deposit will keep Tennessee greener by encouraging the recycling of beverage containers.
"If we could remove these beverage containers out of the waste stream, it would definitely impact the volume of trash that goes into any landfill."
Karl says bottle dropoff sites will create jobs, since grocery stores will not be allowed to collect the containers. She disagrees with opponents who call the bill a tax on bottlers that will increase costs to consumers. As she sees it, a cost increase would only apply to consumers who don't return their empty bottles for the five-cent deposit. The bill is making its way through state legislative committees in both the House and Senate.
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