California lawmakers are weighing changes to the state’s Bottle Bill, including a proposal that would make beverage manufacturers responsible for helping consumer recycle.
Several factors are contributing to the recycling industry crisis in California. One is the steady loss of recyclers. James Rainey reported in the Los Angeles Times this week that the state currently has fewer than half of the 2,578 recycling centers that were operational at the end of 2013.
“Red ink sank many recyclers as the prices for scrap aluminum and plastic declined, while state payments meant to cover a portion of their operating costs did not keep up with their actual expenses,” he wrote. “Prices for recycled plastic also dipped sharply, in part as a result of China’s decision to stop accepting imports of the material from the US and other countries.”
Now, some members of the California Legislature want to overhaul the state’s Bottle Bill and make beverage makers responsible for establishing a new system to take their containers back for recycling, the Associated Press reported.
“The measure by Democratic Senator Bob Wieckowski of Fremont would require beverage makers to come up with their own more convenient recycling program by 2024,” according to the Associated Press. “It would eventually reduce the state’s role to oversight and enforcement.”
On Wednesday, the bill, called the Beverage Container Recycling Act of 2020, passed the State Senate Environmental Quality Committee, KEYT reported. Next, the bill heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog is urging an overhaul of the state’s bottle deposit system. “The key to major reform is ubiquitous consumer access to convenient redemption and putting the responsibility for running that system onto the beverage industry,” said Liza Tucker, a consumer advocate who wrote the organization’s recent report on recycling failures in California.
William Dermody, spokesman for the American Beverage Association, said this week that America’s beverage companies and local California bottlers share the goal of improving the recycling and reuse of plastic in California, according to the Associated Press. “He said industry is ready to work with California lawmakers on a system to recycle, reclaim, and reuse plastic,” the news outlet added.
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