Facts About The Beverage Container Deposit Programs, HB 1473:
FACT: Redemption centers are very expensive to establish and operate and result in higher costs of products to the producers, passed to the consumer by product price increases.
FACT: HB 1473 would add a 5 cent fee on 24 oz. or less beverage containers and a 10 cent fee on containers more than 24 oz. – essentially, a container tax.
FACT: Beverage containers of all types represent an average of 7 percent of all littered items. The existence of a deposit program will have no effect on the remaining 93 percent of waste.
FACT: Recycling systems are wrought with fraud, especially when bordered by states without redemption programs, like Texas. Fraud only increases the cost of these programs, meaning Texas could end up paying more for the program than it receives.
FACT: HB 1473 greatly expands the role of government by creating a “Consortium” to oversee the program and enforce fees and generate reports on the program. In California the government agency that oversees the recycling program spends $46 million per year, just for its own operation expenses and a fund that is currently in $100 million in deficit.
FACT: Bottle tax programs in other states have yielded disappointing results causing states like Delaware to repeal bottle taxes in favor of more comprehensive recycling programs. In California, the state is losing millions of dollars to recycling fraud from people redeeming cans purchased in other states. In fact only one state, Hawaii, has adopted a bottle tax law in the last 23 years.
SUMMARY: The industry supports strategies that improve recycling rates for beverage containers in a efficient and equitable manner. The industry does not support solution like deposits that impose disproportionately high costs to address a small part of the problem. HB 1473 is not the solution.
