Small businesses, unions, trade associations and citizens across Massachusetts have announced a coalition, Real Recycling for Massachusetts, in opposition to a costly and inefficient proposal that would expand the current five cent fee on soda and beer containers to include every bottle and can of 100 percent juice, juice drinks, iced tea, bottled water, flavored water, sports drinks and other beverages.

Expanding the bottle bill would cost retailers, grocers and beverage companies millions of dollars per year in operating costs, causing the cost of beverage containers to increase, ultimately impacting the most those who can least afford it—low and middle income families and those living on fixed incomes.

"Citizens and businesses throughout the Commonwealth can't afford to give money away to an ineffective program," says Chris Flynn, president of Massachusetts Food Association and member of Real Recycling for Massachusetts. "Statewide, people oppose an expanded bottle bill that would raise the cost of groceries for Massachusetts families, burden businesses, jeopardize jobs and compete with less expensive recycling programs that actually work."

The expanded bottle bill would put good-paying jobs at risk and negatively impact the 3,700 beverage industry jobs in Massachusetts. Workers' unions, including those representing drivers and plant workers (Local 513 RWDSU/UFCW) and beverage container machinists (Local 1271 IAW/AW), stand united with their employers to oppose expanding the bottle bill. Now is not the time to be adding to the burden of hard-working families in Massachusetts.

"The last thing we want to do is put good-paying jobs at risk, and an expanded bottle bill would do just that," says  Gary Miner, 513 RWDSU/UFCWN and member of Real Recycling for Massachusetts. "The bottle bill's negative impact on jobs has been evident elsewhere, and we should avoid making similar mistakes that could costs us jobs and hurt our local economy."

In 2009, a much more limited bottle bill expansion in New York resulted in plant closures and job losses to the state.

Real Recycling for Massachusetts believes in better ways to improve existing municipal recycling programs and extend them to more places, such as parks, arenas, stadiums, offices and theatres. Our lawmakers should be focusing their energy on comprehensive recycling programs—not counting our bottles and cans.

Expanding the bottle bill would be expensive and have little environmental impact. With all of its expense and hassle, expanding the bottle bill would only minimally increase the state's recycling rate (by about 0.12 percent). The bottle bill focuses on a small piece of the waste stream. Nearly everyone in the state has curbside pickup, access to an area to take recyclables or other programs that focus on a range of paper, metal, plastic, glass products and packaging. These programs handle many more materials and are much more efficient than a bottle bill.

The coalition believes strongly that recycling throughout Massachusetts should be expanded through measures that are more effective and less costly—by building on existing infrastructure such as curbside pickup, as well as making it more convenient for residents to recycle outside of their homes.

The existing bottle bill is outdated and expensive. It was approved almost 30 years ago before Massachusetts and local communities spent millions of dollars adopting widespread curbside and other recycling programs. The existing bottle bill costs three to four times more than a comprehensive curbside recycling program, and an expanded bill would cost about 10 times more. Most beverages covered by expansion are sold through a different distribution system than beer and soda, and therefore putting deposits on additional containers will require establishment of a new, separate system for acquiring empty bottles and cans from retailers and restaurants all over the state.

"Communities throughout the state have adopted recycling programs that are effective and convenient, target a far greater portion of the waste stream and cost less," says Flynn. "We should invest in improving these more effective and efficient programs, not a costly bottle bill that will hurt families and jobs in our communities and have virtually no impact on increasing recycling."

Real Recycling for Massachusetts is a growing coalition of concerned citizens, businesses, and organizations, including the Massachusetts Food Assn., Massachusetts Beverage Assn., Retailers Assn. of Massachusetts, Poland Spring Bottling Co., Kappy's Liquors, Tedeschi Food Shops Inc., Massachusetts Package Stores Assn., the New England Convenience Store Assn., National Federation of Independent Business, the Intl. Bottled Water Association, and unions including Local 513 RWDSU/UFCW (representing drivers and plant workers) and Local 1271 IAW/AW (representing beverage container machinists). Other members of the coalition include A.L. Bernier's Store, Busa Bros Liquors Inc., E.L. Harvey & Sons, J. Polep Distribution Services, MCMA Spirits Inc. and the East Boston Malt Co.

For more information and to help prevent this costly and ineffective bottle bill measure, visit RealRecyclingMass.com.

Source: Real Recycling for Massachusetts

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