CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT SUMMARY



INTERIM STUDY REPORT

Agriculture, Wildlife and Environment Committee

Rep. Phil Richardson, Chairman

Oklahoma House of Representatives

Interim Study 11-008, Rep. Mark McCullough, combined with 11-018 Rep. George Faught

October 25, 2011

Beverage Container Recycling

Kevin S. Dietly

Northbridge Environmental

kdietly@

• We need to start looking at our waste as a resource and pull material out of the waste stream and use it.

• A large number of people in this country are involved in decisions about what to do with waste. There are 30,000 organizations, including cities that make decisions about waste, so a lot of stakeholders must be taken into account when making decisions.

• The beverage industry, not including alcohol, is among the most innovative in container recycling and beverages are only a small part of the waste stream.

• Forty percent of beverage containers get recycled each year.

• We also need to worry about how trash is managed so that it doesn’t become litter. Litter is just trash in the wrong place. About 7 percent of items littered are beverage containers.

• The industry adopted a full-circle plan three years ago. The branches are innovate, activate and motivate.

• In the area of innovation, the beverage industry has made lighter packaging to use less material. For example, the lips on aluminum cans are smaller as are the caps on water bottles. Water bottles are also thinner.

• In the area of motivation, the industry is using advertising, social networking and rewards to motivate consumers.

• The area of activation involves strategies such as teaching recycling programs how to demonstrate the best way to recycle and to share best practices. In addition, some cities are trying things like charging more for trash service and less for recycling. Advocates are supporting legislative efforts to provide incentives for recycling.

• If people had to pay more for trash, they would throw away less and be more careful about what they purchase so they are less wasteful.

• The industry has a long-standing opposition to deposit legislation. The main reason is that paying deposits on bottle purchases is so limited in its focus and there is a lot of effort for a little recovery.

• Deposits have some unintended consequences like loss of sales near the border of states with deposit laws and people bringing bottles into a state to obtain money. In some cases, people will make trips to redeem bottles but may spend more time and money to redeem them than they’re worth.

• Delaware overturned its deposit law last year.

• Deposit laws often keep the most valuable recycling items out of cities’ recycling programs which hurt those programs since cities cannot receive the financial benefit of recycling those items.

• Ten states have deposit laws. Oregon was the first followed by California in 1986. Hawaii enacted its law in 2002.

See presentation a

Jim Griffin, chief executive officer

OnCue Express

claytontaylor@

• Convenience store operators fear that stores will be collection and redemption sites if a deposit law passes, which is not something operators want around food service.

• Convenience stores have developed into food service stores as well. Before, all food was wrapped, but now it isn’t all wrapped and sanitation is very important.

• Stores also do not have enough space for collection and redemption. An additional building might not be a good solution because people might break in to steal items to redeem at another site. Use of labor is another concern.

• Customers come to convenience stores for convenience because most items sold can be purchased elsewhere cheaper.

Michael Patton

Metropolitan Environmental Trust

Recyclemichael@

• The nonprofit business employs 120 people in Tulsa and processes about one quarter of the state’s recycling.

• Oklahoma would be a good candidate for a deposit law because residents are not ready for widespread recycling and it would increase the beauty of the state. Tulsa spends $1 million a year on litter. The law would generate money for the state and it would help his program make more money while paying people more for their recyclable items.

• Sixteen percent of bottles in the nation don’t get redeemed. Some states have limits on the number of bottles a person can redeem in a day to prevent fraud.

• A deposit law in Oklahoma would shift how residents see trash. If people get money back for their bottles, they’re no longer trash. They’re cash.

Steven Segebarth

Verallia North America

• Verallia has a plant in Sapulpa.

• The focus of glass bottle producers has changed to sustainability.

• Two billion containers are produced in Oklahoma per year in seven furnaces.

• Discussed goals of the Glass Packaging Institute which include using 50 percent recycled glass by 2013. All parts of glass bottles can be recycled, it’s just a matter of getting those bottles recycled.

• Using recycled glass helps make plants as competitive as possible. It takes less energy to melt recycled bottles than create new ones from raw materials and air emissions are reduced.

• Seventy-seven percent of bottles are not being recycled. They are either going into the landfill or are downcycled.

• A deposit bill could help glass companies get a better supply of recycled bottles.

See presentation b

Michael J. Smaha, manager, U.S. government affairs

Owens-Illinois, Inc.

Mike.smaha@o-

• Owens-Illinois owns a plant in Muskogee.

• Sixty percent of the glass used for making bottles out of recycled materials comes from the 10 states with deposit laws. Owens-Illinois obtains 80 percent of its materials from those 10 states.

• Plants must compete with producers in other countries with fewer regulations.

• Not recycling means a loss of jobs in the industry.

• Discussed the option of modifying the definition of solid waste in statutes to not classify bottles as solid waste and banning the use of recycled materials in roadbeds and landfills.

• Rural areas could have collection partnerships.

See presentation c

Fenton Rood, director, waster system planning

Department of Environmental Quality

Fenton.rood@deq.ok.us

• Most of Oklahoma’s trash ends up in the 41 landfills in the state.

• Regardless of what individual consumers do, the only true recyclers are the industries that can turn it into a product.

• The largest cost associated with garbage is the truck coming to consumers’ doors.

• Oklahoma has no good data about the percentage of recyclable recovery and the low value of items is a hindrance.

• Two states in the country claim to divert 50 percent of what is thrown away into recycling programs. Some states have a lot invested in the deposit law while others don’t.

Steve Edwards,

Edwards Firm

Edwards-steve@

• Ninety percent of people would rather do more recycling but Oklahomans don’t want mandates.

• Oklahomans are in favor of paying more for a bottle if they get a bottle back. Oklahomans are not in favor of putting potential recyclables back into landfills.

Attached Documents:

Meeting Notice

Kevin S. Dietly presentation



Steven Segebarth presentation



Mike Smaha presentation



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