Lawmakers want to expand bottle Lawmakers want to expand bottle deposit law

Source: The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Three Detroit area legislators want to expand the state's bottle deposit law to require 10-cent deposits on water, tea and fruit drinks.

These drinks weren't around when the original bottle law was enacted in 1976. Now, the state's biggest conservation group claims each state resident guzzles an average of 100 bottles or cans of them yearly.

"If these drinks had been around when the bottle bill passed, they'd have been included," said Dennis Fox, a policy specialist for the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

Legislating deposits on them now, however, is far from a sure thing. Grocers are leery of any proposed requirement that would add to the piles of containers they already have to accept, especially when store owners are under growing pressure keep their premises clean.

"We're really at a critical point because of the new emphasis on food safety," Linda Gobler, president of the Michigan Grocers Association, told The Detroit News for a story. "It's not uncommon to find roaches, diapers, even condoms, in the bags of bottles and cans people return."

The original bottle bill, now 25 years old, is highly successful by most accounts. Passed on a voter-sponsored ballot initiative in 1976, it quickly reduced roadside bottle and can debris by 80 percent.

Michigan, one of just 10 states to have a deposit law, also has a lower proportion of bottles and cans littering its beaches than any other state.

In 1988, lawmakers expanded the law to include wine coolers and canned cocktails, which had become the rage.

California and Maine recently have added some of the new beverages in question to their bottle deposit laws.

Rep. Michael Switalski, D-Roseville, is chief sponsor of a measure to broaden Michigan's law to include tea drinks, sports concoctions, juices and fancy waters.

Switalski got nowhere with a similar bill last year. Now, he has co-sponsorship from House Majority Leader Bruce Patterson of Canton, whose Republican Party controls the legislative agenda.

In the Senate, Democrat Burton Leland of Detroit has reintroduced a more-limited bill to include juice bottles and cans in the state bottle deposit law.

Either measure will have a tough road beyond opposition from store owners and bottlers. Because the original bottle law was passed by voter initiative, it requires a three-fourths vote of the Legislature to change it.
Source: The Associated Press