Posted on 07/18/2011 7:57:50 PM PDT by massmike
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering updates to the state's bottle bill that would expand deposit fees to non-carbonated beverages and redirect unclaimed deposits to help fund local recycling programs.
Over a dozen bills proposing changes to the state's 30-year-old container deposit system are set to be heard before a legislative committee Wednesday, including one that would place deposit fees on nearly all beverages, including water, iced tea, juice, and sports drinks.
But the expansion would increase the cost to consumers and businesses, say opponents of the bill.
"This is a serious tax on consumers at the wrong time," said Christopher Flynn, president of the Massachusetts Food Association, which represents retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers in the supermarket and grocery industry.
Flynn said expanding redemption centers and converting machines to accept different bottles could also cost the state's retailers millions of dollars and smaller businesses may not be able to expand to handle the increased volume.
"Logistically it's a nightmare and there's really no need for it," he said. The association instead supports increased curbside recycling and more recycling bins in public parks and stadiums, measures that Flynn described as more efficient and comprehensive than more bottle deposits.
Another bill on Wednesday's hearing schedule would eliminate deposits on all containers in the state.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Hey, Why not a buck a can/bottle just like ciggies.
Ma Voters please remember you voted these POS’s in.
Not me! I went ZERO for the ballot in the last two state elections!
...and if primaries count,I did even worse!
I didn’t mean you I meant the MA voters that vote libtard.
I know that there are 100,000’s of great Americans that have to live there and that they fight for their conservative ideals each day. Stand firm and keep up the fire!
“98 bottles of beer on the wall...”
New Hampshire businesses are drooling.
I can imagine this is great news for all the older ladies from Chinatown who troll the city with shopping carts, filling them with discarded recyclable bottles. More pocket change for them!
Deposits on bottles were originally meant to help in recycling the bottles for reuse. Now it’s just another cash cow for the govt spend-a-holics.
Marxachusetts running true to form.
Ironic that the Commonwealth was the starting point for the War of Independence, considering that its residents all now seem to want to live under the centralized rule of Marxist dictatorship.
C210N: “We should not rest, from rising in the morning to going to sleep at night, until the scurge of ALL beverage containers no longer stings our view of highways and byways:”
It pains me to say this but I’m gonna anyway: I lived on a heavily-travelled state road when the original bottle bill passed. The amount of garbage on my front lawn went down by 90 percent or better.
That is not to say that just because people are f’ing slobs the bottle bill is justified, but in my experience it was successful in acheiving two of its goals.
1) It cleaned up the roadsides a LOT.
2) Since the state lied (there’s a surprise) to distributors and KEPT the unreimbursed deposits instead of returning the money to the distributors, it increased revenues. (A tax on people who don’t return the bottles/cans for deposit.)
...Except for losing scratch tickets,Dunkin' Donuts cups,McDonald's wrappers......
massmike [about my “cleaned up the roadsides a LOT” comment]: “...Except for losing scratch tickets,Dunkin’ Donuts cups,McDonald’s wrappers......”
Not in my yard — they were piled up in windrows around the truckstop a mile up the road, though. Especially the scratch tickets which don’t seem to break down. Ever.
The weirdest thing I found roadside was a very good quality pleated wool skirt almost in front of my mailbox (I asked the Mrs. on the quality issue). A quarter mile up the road was a bra. Kinda made me wonder...
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