Bottle Bill Tax Bad For Hawaii

By Gary Yoshioka, 4/19/2002 9:33:04 AM

Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling (HCCR), a group of food and beverage interests in Hawaii, is opposed to the proposed bottle bill that would impose a $26 million tax on Hawaii consumers. This so-called bottle bill would establish a costly and bureaucratic government program to recycle less than 1 percent of Hawaii’s solid waste. In these fiscally challenging times for our state, a costly and inefficient new bureaucracy is not appropriate.

The bottle bill being forced through the Legislature by special interest groups would subject beverage containers sold in Hawaii would to a 2 cent tax. This "container fee" would be hidden from consumers because it is collected at the distributor level, but at $14 million per year, this is a cost that distributors will be required to pass on to their customers. The additional impact to consumers comes from deposits that consumers are either unable or unwilling to recover.

This bill would create an entirely new government program with significant regulatory and oversight responsibilities. The recycling network which the bureaucracy would oversee does not exist today, nor is there any precedent for such a program in any other state. California’s elaborate redemption system comes closest, but that unwieldy program requires $20 million and 200 bureaucrats for administration alone. Hawaii taxpayers have a right to know what they will get for their $26 million and this bill does not clearly explain how the collection and processing of these containers will occur.

Unfortunately, the plan does not offer much in terms of new recycling. The bill would increase the state’s recycling rate by about three-quarters of 1 percent -- a very poor return on the significant investment in both time and money to implement the program.

This bill also creates two classes of beverage containers: those subject to the tax and deposit and those that are exempt. The law exempts a wide range of beverages in plastic bottles other than PET and HDPE as well as drinks in paperboard cartons and drink boxes. In short, the bill rewards the use of packaging that is more difficult to recycle, because these containers are exempt from the tax and deposit system.

We will not solve Hawaii’s solid waste problems by imposing a costly and burdensome mandate on consumers, especially when that mandate affects only 1.4 percent of the waste stream. Hawaii residents deserve a more complete and efficient response to concerns over solid waste management.

Our state has significant opportunities to improve its recycling programs and ease the pressure on its landfills. Our coalition sponsored the development of a plan to enhance residential recycling statewide, because that is where opportunities for improvement are the greatest. The plan was presented to legislative leaders in January. Compared to this revised bottle bill proposal, our plan would produce three times more new recycling at one-quarter the cost.

A bureaucratic and burdensome recycling program that ignores 98.6 percent of the solid waste stream is not right for Hawaii. We stand ready to work with the Legislature and the counties to implement right-sized, appropriate solutions for our local solid waste issues. We are confident that more fiscally and environmentally responsible solutions are available. For more information, call the Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling hotline at 585-9926 or toll-free from the Neighbor Islands at 1-866-585-9926.

Gary Yoshioka is a member of the Hawaii Citizens for Comprehensive Recycling and general manager of The Pepsi Bottling Group of Hawaii.