A battle over policies: What are the two bills to improve recycling in Massachusetts?

Industries want bills to address handling fees, recyclable pickups

Richard Devaney  Cape Cod Times

Published March 31, 2022

 

CENTERVILLE—As Andrea Pendergast fed bottles and cans into the redemption machine at the liquor store she co-owns, she pondered the shortcomings of the existing recycling system.

"The redemption system is imperfect," Pendergast, co-owner of Cape Cod Package Store Fine Wine & Spirits, said. "It's a system we need to improve together. We all need to do our part."

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Public officials and those in the tourist industry decry litter that mars the Cape's quaint towns and villages, beaches and roads.

There are ongoing arguments about solutions, Pendergast said, but no clear consensus over what to do. Environmental groups, bottling industries, and stores battle over policies included in a spectrum of bills surrounding recycling initiatives. 

Two bills have been introduced : the Better Bottle Bill and the Clean Act. Both bills attempt to modernize recycling and focus on containers and single-use plastics, litter, ecology and nips. The Clean Act, though, does not call for raising the deposit fee, but does raise handling fees from 1 to 3 cents, which will largely impact store owners with onsite redemption centers.

The Clean Act expands coverage to include nips as recyclable material, but the bill limits redeemable containers to beer and malt beverages, soda or mineral water, and similar carbonated soft drinks. The Clean Act was introduced by Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, in February 2021 and was referred to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy in March 2021.

The Better Bottle Bill was written and passed in 1982, but the legislation hasn't been updated since then. The most recent overhaul was introduced in October 2021 by Rep. Marjorie Decker, D-Cambridge, and Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem, D-Newton, who want to expand the measure to include water bottles, bottles for juices, vitamin drinks, nips, sports drinks, iced teas, and other beverage containers that didn't exist when the original bill was passed. Lawmakers also are proposing to increase bottle deposits from 5 to 10 cents. 

The Better Bottle Bill was sent to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for further consideration in January. 

Expansive container list supported

Sarah Becker, program associate for MASSPIRG, advocates for the Better Bottle Bill because she said it's the most expansive update.

"The Clean Act does include miniatures and nips and increases the handling fee and one or two other beverage containers, but it does not increase the deposit," she said. "We are taking a neutral stance on the Clean Act because it does some good things but it doesn't go as far as the Better Bottle Bill."

Becker says the deposit increase in the Better Bottle Bill can help eliminate what she calls "new age containers" out of landfills, and incinerators.

Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of Association to Preserve Cape Cod, said economic incentives have been eroded by the passage of time. 

"The nickel ain't worth today what it was 30 years ago. The extra 5-cent deposit is an incentive to either have the buyer of the container return it," he said. "Or it's an incentive for someone to take the time to collect the container that was mindlessly and thoughtlessly thrown into the landscape by the original purchaser."

A recent study done by Reloop North America found that 42% of Better Bottle Bill containers are recycled. If the deposit is bumped to 10 cents, the rate of recycling would increase with 14 billion more plastic, glass, and aluminum containers diverted from landfills, ground, and waterways. The study also showed that recycling would increase from 42% to 90%, with less litter, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, increased cost savings, more job opportunities and increased reliance on EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility).  

40-year delay in a Better Bottle Bill

Part of the reason for the four-decade delay in updating the Better Bottle Bill, said Becker, is opposition from beverage and bottling industries. There have been a number of attempts to update the bill in the past — most notably in 2014 when the bill was proposed as a ballot measure with the public, she said.

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“We were seeing a huge amount of support from municipalities, individuals, environmental groups, and small businesses,” she said. “And then the beverage and bottling industry outspent us 10 times to one with misleading advertisements.”

The advertisements told the public, said Becker, that the bill wasn’t modern enough to be effective. 

"If the bill were to become law, these industries wouldn't be responsible for just making and then selling the bottles,” she said. “They'd be responsible for the take-back and dealing with the waste instead of it being the consumer's or the municipalities’ problem.”

“We know that these systems work. We have also seen that the beverage and bottling industry has been lying about it. And that's been a huge obstacle to overcome,” she said.

Robert Mellion, executive director of the Massachusetts Package Stores Association, Inc., said legislation needs to move forward, but because the Better Bottle Bill fails to include a handling fee in its legislation, stores are left in the lurch.

With a struggling workforce, and a raise in pay for employees, Mellion said legislation that included a raise in handling fees would go a long way.

A raise in handling fees would help

Another problem with the current system, Mellion said, is that distribution companies aren’t consistent with timely recyclable pickup. Stores have to deal with broken glass, crushed cans and plastic bottles that crowd storerooms across the state. The waste can sometimes sit around for months, Mellion said, because distributors, contracted with the state, keep staffing to a minimum to ensure greater profits.

“I don't think any bill is going to fix it, but at least by raising the handling fee, it'll help take a little bit of a bite out of the anger that retailers have dealing with this unfunded mandate,” he said.

Despite opposition from industries, Gottlieb said his organization and others are putting their shoulder to the wheel to get Better Bottle Bill revisions passed. 

"On one hand, retail associations, package stores and the bottling industry cynically oppose single-use plastic bottle container bans and say a revised bottle bill is a better public policy option than banning the use of a product," he said. "But, on the other hand, they've done nothing to support passage of such a piece of legislation and have actively worked against its passage."

Current state of recycling on Cape Cod

Bottles and cans, though, only make up a small percentage of the Cape's waste stream.

Kari Parcell, waste reduction coordinator for Barnstable County, said a feasibility study in November 2020 was conducted by Geosyntec Consultants and Tetra Tech, consulting and engineering firms, analyzing the cost benefit of out-of-state waste disposal, keeping in mind environmental factors that prompt people to recycle. 

"That's looking at the trash stream itself," she said. "The other piece was looking at hard-to-recycle materials and other basic materials for recycling — looking at the markets, and cost collections."

The study showed organics — yard, garden, and food waste made up 36% of the Cape's waste stream. 

"That's like walking out of the grocery store with four grocery bags, dropping one in the parking lot and you just keep on walking," she said. 

Construction and demolition waste — including asphalt, brick and concrete — made up 12% of the material stream; followed by 12% paper and cardboard; 12% plastic; 8% other; 6% textiles and leather; 4% bulky materials; 3.5% metal; and 3% glass. 

Although residential numbers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Parcell said, the total tonnage of waste increased by 2.3% between 2019 and 2020, and hovered at 85,000 tons within disposal streams. 

It takes a village

Pendergast supports the Clean Act, but said it's been a struggle juggling the intricacies of legislation as she recycles at her store.

Not only does she regularly clean up trash around her Centerville store, she also keeps a large blue bin at its entry way to collect recyclable containers, which she processes through Nauset Disposal.

In addition, Pendergast also partners with organizations like Keep Mass Beautiful to hold fall and spring cleanups. The next event will be held Sunday, May 1, with volunteers meeting at Barnstable High School at a time to be determined. 

Pendergast hopes the entire community can engage in consumer education to aggressively come up with solutions.

"Rather than pointing fingers and blaming, I took a look at myself and said, 'Let me see what I can do to help.' It feels good, as a business, to take charge," she said. “We want to always demonstrate that we are united with our community in solving this litter problem. We're not going to shy away from it.”