Stores in Oregon get ready for bottle bill changes
Starting Jan. 1, Oregonians will have to cough up an extra nickel when they buy a bottle of water.
Adding deposits for water containers is one of the major changes to the 38-year-old Oregon bottle bill that now covers beer and soda containers.
Legislation approved in 2007 law also allows customers to bring the empties back to any retailer that sells a particular product.
For example, if a store sells beer, it must redeem all types of empty beer cans and bottles. Previously the stores had to accept only the brands they sold.
“You can take it back everywhere, and that is a great advancement,” said Jerry Powell, a longtime advocate of the Oregon Bottle Bill and editor of the Portland-based trade magazine Resource Recycling.
I wonder how the deposit will effect the “corn plastic” problem?
Corn plastic sounds great, but it’s tough to recycle and may foul systems
Why? Corn PLA, made mainly by Minnesota-based Natureworks, composts only in high-temperature commercial composting systems, not backyards. It’s difficult to distinguish from regular plastics in the recycling mix. And a small amount can foul recycling of conventional plastic, one of the biggest-payoff items for recyclers nationwide.
“As a regular resident, you can’t compost it. You can’t recycle it,” says Lauren Norris, coordinator of the Portland area’s master recycler program. “Really, you’re giving people something that has to be landfilled.”
Like ethanol, biodiesel and wind power, PLA was widely lauded at first blush. Five years later, it’s moving into the consumer mainstream — and getting the critical second look typical when green breakthroughs scale up.
The scrutiny is particularly relevant in Oregon. Kroger, owner of Fred Meyer, QFC and other grocers, is the first national chain to carry Primo water, packaged in the first corn plastic water bottle intended for U.S. grocery shelves.
So remember! If you buy Primo water, be green. Eat the new deposit and ***throw it away***.
[Update] I have a call into OLCC to find out the scoop with corn plastics. If/when i hear back (she’s on vacation until after the new year), I’ll post an update.
on Dec 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Do you think it would make sense for the PLA to have a different recycling number on it so it could be sorted and properly composted? I’m not sure what the resources and legislation needed to do that would be but it seems like a viable option.
on Jan 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Recyclers are going to have to learn how to deal with it. Period.
It is not going to go away, and too few people even know what it is let alone know how to separate it from other plastic.
So recyclers are going to get more and more of it.
The automated separation systems currently use infra-red light to determine the type of plastic and then sort accordingly. They will have to find a way to sort this stuff too.
I know I sound harsh, but that is the reality. It is easier to design a system to handle it than it is to get 500,000 people to all follow guidelines.
Heck, some people still don’t even separate out their glass…