The Bottle Bill

Exley/Yaklin ‘09

Yvonne Abraham of the Boston Globe reported on September 27, 2009, “What if somebody
came to you with a proven way to keep billions of plastic bottles out of our rivers, fields, and
landfills? Would you jump on it, recognizing those bottles as an environmental scourge? Or
would you sit on your hands and let the plastic pile up? Guess which option our legislators have
chosen.” Because of this inability to act and pass a cohesive national container deposit law, my
partner and I stand emphatically resolved that the United States Federal Government should
significantly reform its environmental policy.
Before we launch into the specifics of our case, we’ve got to define a few key terms in order to
promote clarity in this debate round in Observation 1: Definitions.

1. Environmental Policy
McCormick, John (2001). Environmental Policy in the European Union. The European
Series. Palgrave. p. 21.
"Environmental policy is any (course of) action deliberately taken (or not taken) to
manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce or mitigate harmful effects on
nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do
not have harmful effects on humans.[1]"

2. Reform

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reform

"to put an end to (an evil) by enforcing or introducing a better method or course of
action."
3. Bottle bill definition
The Chicago Recycling Coalition
Published at http://www.chicagorecycling.org/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=76.
"Bottle Bill Overview" Published n/a; accessed October 7, 2009
"Bottle bills are laws that aim to decrease the solid waste and litter generated by beverage
consumption. Also referred to as “beverage container deposit systems,” they provide
incentives to both producers and consumers to recycle beverage containers by instituting
a deposit/refund system.

When consumers purchase certain beverages from stores for off-site consumption, an
additional deposit is paid on each container, usually in the amount of 5 or 10 cents. Upon
return of the empty container to a grocery store, a reverse vending machine (RVM), or a
licensed collection center, the consumer is refunded the deposit amount. Receiving a
refund of the deposit gives consumers an incentive to recycle their empty containers. In
 addition, the grocery stores and centers that pay back the refund to the consumer usually
collect a handling fee of 2 to 3 cents per container, such that the deposit/redemption
system can be a profitable enterprise. Additionally, in some states, the unredeemed
deposits go into the state treasury, sometimes earmarked for recycling or other
environmental programs."

Basically, a bottle bill is a refundable deposit that is put on beverage containers. The customer pays 10
cents more for the bottle up front and they receive their money back when they recycle the empties.

Next, the criterion or measuring stick that we ask you to judge this round with is that of net benefits, if
we provide a benefit over the status quo, we ask you to vote affirmative.

Now let’s look at the facts of the current system in Observation 2: Inherency.

1. Bottle bill never passed

Miguel Llanos (Miguel Llanos handles many of the top, breaking stories that appear on
the Web site. He also specializes in environment issues. He has a master’s degree in
international journalism from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s
in economics and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.)
Published at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279230/.
"Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste - Americans' thirst for portable water is
behind drop in recycling rate" Published March 3, 2005; accessed September 12, 2009
"But while deposit legislation has had varying degrees of bipartisan support in Congress
over the years, it has never become law.

Franklin blames opposition from the beverage industry, saying its campaign contributions
have given it "incredible political clout in Congress and actually in every state legislature
in the country.""

We can see that the status quo will not pass bottle bill making an Affirmative ballot necessary if a bottle
bill is to be passed.

Now let’s look at the problems in the Status Quo in Observation 3: Harms
 1. 40 million bottles every day are thrown away or thrown out – low recycling rate
Miguel Llanos (Miguel Llanos handles many of the top, breaking stories that appear on
the Web site. He also specializes in environment issues. He has a master’s degree in
international journalism from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s
in economics and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.)
Published at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279230/.
"Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste - Americans' thirst for portable water is
behind drop in recycling rate" Published March 3, 2005; accessed September 12, 2009
"Only about 12 percent of "custom" plastic bottles, a category dominated by water, were
recycled in 2003, according to industry consultant R.W. Beck, Inc. That's 40 million
bottles a day that went into the trash or became litter. In contrast, the recycling rate for
plastic soft drink bottles is around 30 percent."
Impact: Waste. Trashing these bottles is a terrible waste as well as the fact that plastics are created
from petroleum which is a limited resource as backed by the next piece of evidence. Further, these
bottles are now cluttering our landfills or are littered on the sides of the road. This next piece of
evidence just goes to show the environmental damage done by not recycling these bottles.

Beverages account for 20% of GHG emissions resulting from land filling
CRI The Container Recycling Institute which provides comprehensive information on
recycling and other such subjects. (“ Energy to Waste?" Usman Valiente, Solid Waste
and Recycling, April/May 2000.)
Published at http://www.bottlebill.org/about/mythfact.htm#src2.
"Bottle Bill Myths and Facts" Published 2007 - 2009; accessed October 19, 2009
While soda containers constitute only 2.7% of the waste stream, all beverage containers
(excluding milk containers) are 4.4% of the waste stream1. More important, the upstream
environmental effects of container wasting are disproportionately high. For example,
beverage containers account for 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from
landfilling a ton of MSW and replacing the wasted products with new products made
from virgin materials.2"
Eleven states have bottle bills - but none are the same
Miguel Llanos (Miguel Llanos handles many of the top, breaking stories that appear on
the Web site. He also specializes in environment issues. He has a master’s degree in
international journalism from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s
in economics and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.)
Published at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279230/.
"Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste - Americans' thirst for portable water is
behind drop in recycling rate" Published March 3, 2005; accessed September 12, 2009
"Eleven states have bottle bills but they are a patchwork with no two alike, she adds, and
only three states, California, Hawaii and Maine, include plastic water bottles in their
laws."
 1. Impact: State's confusion
The Connecticut Post (The Connecticut Post is a daily newspaper located in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. It serves the greater Bridgeport area, Fairfield County, and
the Lower Naugatuck Valley. )
Published at http://ctgreenscene.typepad.com/ct_green_scene/2009/01/new-bottle-bill-
considered-increase-deposit-to-10.html.
"NEW BOTTLE BILL CONSIDERED: INCREASE DEPOSIT TO 10¢" Published
January 26, 2009; accessed October 14, 2009
"HARTFORD -- The nickel deposit on cans and bottles would increase to 10 cents under
legislation that would expand the recycling law to include water and sports drinks.

But industry officials warned that such a cost hike would result in a huge wave of illegal
containers purchased in neighboring states and result in higher consumer prices."

Because of these significant harms, we present our solution to be passed by Congress, signed by the
President, and upheld by any other portions of the Federal Government as necessary in Observation 4:
The plan which will be comprised of the following mandates.

1. Nationwide bottle bill: A nationwide bottle bill with a 10 cent refundable deposit that will be
further adjusted for inflation. The deposit will be comprehensive and be put on water bottles, milk
cartons, aluminum cans, sports drinks, beer bottles ect.

2. There will be a 3.5 cent handling fee (again adjusted for inflation) provided by the Beverage
Companies.

3. Division of unclaimed funds: 80/20 - 20% of all unclaimed deposits will be paid to the beverage
companies and the other 80% will be used for further environmental projects on the state level.

4. Federalism – State Law pre-empts as long as it follows the above restrictions.

Funding: Through normal means.

Timeline: The plan takes place one year after an affirmative ballot.

Now that we’ve looked at our proposed solution, let’s look at how it will solve the harms in Observation
5: Solvency.
 1. Past precedent - Michigan has had a 95% success rate.
Miguel Llanos (Miguel Llanos handles many of the top, breaking stories that appear on
the Web site. He also specializes in environment issues. He has a master’s degree in
international journalism from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s
in economics and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.)
Published at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279230/.
"Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste - Americans' thirst for portable water is
behind drop in recycling rate" Published March 3, 2005; accessed September 12, 2009
"A national law, she says, should cover new containers that didn't exist 20 years ago, e.g.
plastic water bottles, and enforce a dime-per-bottle deposit "as it is in Michigan, where
deposit containers are recovered at a rate of 95 percent.""
2. National law avoids patchy regulations and fraud.

One law for one land – there is no mess of confusing regulations. A national bottle bill avoids the
web of different bottle bills and fraud that accompanies it.

Now that we’ve seen how the plan solves the harms, let’s look at the significant benefits that can be
gained by adopting out plan in Observation 6. Advantages.

1. Energy savings for plastic

The Jurisdiction of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
( Its sole authority shall be to investigate, study, make findings, and develop
recommendations on policies, strategies, technologies and other innovations, intended
to reduce the dependence of the United States on foreign sources of energy and achieve
substantial and permanent reductions in emissions and other activities that contribute
to climate change and global warming.)
Published at http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0126.
"New National Bottle Bill Would Cut Heat-Trapping Emissions, Energy Needs
" Published June 7, 2009; accessed October 7, 2009
"Plastic water and juice bottles have become increasingly prevalent since many state
bottle bills were initially adopted. Including plastic bottles in a national bottle bill would
lead to significant savings in energy and oil consumption. One ton of recycled plastic
saves 5,774 kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity and 685 gallons of oil."
If you link back to our Harm Impact of using up oil, you can clearly see the net benefit.
 2. Recycling aluminum uses 95% less energy than making new cans
The Jurisdiction of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
( Its sole authority shall be to investigate, study, make findings, and develop
recommendations on policies, strategies, technologies and other innovations, intended
to reduce the dependence of the United States on foreign sources of energy and achieve
substantial and permanent reductions in emissions and other activities that contribute
to climate change and global warming.)
Published at http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0126.
"New National Bottle Bill Would Cut Heat-Trapping Emissions, Energy Needs
" Published June 7, 2009; accessed October 7, 2009
"Aluminum cans also account for an increasing amount of waste. 58 billion cans are
thrown away every year here in the United States, enough to fill the Empire State
Building six times. If all these cans were recycled, it would cut the emissions of heat-
trapping carbon pollution by nearly 6 million tons, or the equivalent of the pollution from
more than one million cars. Cans made from recycled aluminum use 95 percent less
energy than cans manufactured with new materials."

Judge: Today you are presented with the same dilemma as our legislators – do we adopt a
proven solution to a significant problem? Our legislators have turned their noses up at the
most practical and efficient solution to the problem that has been presented so far. Will
you? If you agree with us that that this problem should be solved, we ask you to affirm with
us that the United States Federal Government should significantly reform its environmental
policy.