By John Peters
Editor

In a move aimed at increasing recycling in North Carolina and decreasing roadside litter, Seventh District Sen. Doug Berger has introduced a bill requiring a 10 cent deposit be paid by consumers on glass, plastic, and aluminum drink containers.
Consumers would be able to get that deposit back simply by taking those containers to one of a series of recycling centers to be set up around the state.
The Litter Reduction Act of 2007, he said, was borne out of two events: First, one of his constituents in Youngsville came to him with the idea, and second, his daily drives along the roads of North Carolina.
"My interest was prompted because of the naked eye observation going into work every day, seeing the litter along the roadside every day," he said. "It was largely containers that was predominantly along the road sides."
If enacted, the procedures called for in the bill would be fairly simple. Any consumer purchasing a drink, whether it be in a can, a glass bottle or a plastic bottle, would have to pay 10 cents on top of the regular retail price. That same consumer would be able to return the empty drink container to a collection center and receive 10 cents for it.
Berger said part of what makes the program attractive, as written in his bill, is that there is zero cost to the consumer and zero cost to taxpayers. He explained that the firms setting up and running the collection centers – he estimates there would be several in each county, depending upon population distribution – would be companies that already use plastic, glass and aluminum in recycling efforts, or would be firms that sell directly to these companies.
Thus, collecting the recyclable material would, in essence, be payment for the companies. Consumers would get their deposits back, so there’s no cost to them, and the state would not have to use any tax money to administer the program.
He explained that the deposits collected by retailers would be turned over to the state, who would then fund the return of the deposit money through the collection centers. Even if there were a 70 percent or 80 percent participation rate, some deposit money would still be left, and that would fund any state expense for overseeing the program.
Berger said his bill is modeled after those enacted in other states.
"In states that have this, have a higher compliance rate with recycling efforts," he said. "Michigan, I think, has a 90 percent compliance rate. You’ll never get a 100 percent, but we’re looking to go from a 20 to 30 percent compliance rate (in North Carolina) to more than 70 percent compliance rate.
"That would significantly decrease the amount of trash along the road. … it creates a financial incentive for people to go out and pick up trash. This draws upon the old fashioned ideas of when we were kids going around picking up bottles, then turning them in for money."
While there seems to be no downside, Berger said he expects a difficult time supporting this bill. He said retail merchant associations, soda manufacturers as well as alcoholic beverage bottlers will most likely fight the bill – and they have a well-funded lobby in the General Assembly, he said.
"I think this is a popular idea with the population, and with the media, but you have some very powerful interests who are against it. They will say you’re increasing the price of the product. You certainly can argue it increases the price temporarily, until they get their deposit back. But, the bottom line is that it reduces the amount of liter and the materials get reused at a significantly greater percentage."
He said legislators typically have an area or two of expertise in which they spend a great amount of their time, and when they make decisions on an array of bills outside that area, they often go with whoever has the loudest voice.
"When you have so many lobbyists flooding the legislators on a particular area of interest, they just go with what they hear.
"This is an uphill battle. We’ve gotten favorable responses from constituents, but there would have to be a groundswell of support from the public to get this passed.
"That’s the only way to get measures passed over extensive efforts by lobbyists, and I think this bill has to have that kind of support to pass. This is something we’ve put out there, we’re going to make an effort to see if we can give legs to it."
Even Berger admits that ultimately, if forced to choose, he might not be able to support passage of his own bill this year as ardently as he’d like.
He explained by saying Sen. Marc Basnight, the Senate Pro Tempore, has introduced a bill calling for a 5 cent tax on alcohol sales to help fund mental heath services in North Carolina.
Berger, who is co chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, says he has grave concerns for the amount of money that has been set aside for mental health services in the state, and he would very much like to see additional funding for this.
"That might present a problem, to get both passed at the same time," he said. "A tax for each bottle plus a deposit. It just may be too much overload on the beer manufacturers."