[TN-Bird] Tennessee's comprehensive litter and recycling bill

Fellow Tennessee Birders,

Most of you are familiar with Tennessee's comprehensive litter and recycling 
bill, the "Tennessee Bottle Bill".   It has made increasing progress in the 
State Legislature during the last few years, as supported last session by the 
Tennessee Ornithological Society.  TOS President Richard Connors included the 
following in his supporting statement to TN-Birds on April 5, 2008:

"We had one female purple finch in a creek bed by Percy Priest Lake and counted 
ourselves lucky. But that creek bed was full of trash! Trash had come down the 
creek out of the neighborhood & washed in from the lake, and it was a 
river of trash! That pile of trash may not have directly affected that 
individual bird, but other birds may be directly affected by trash and litter. 
As you know, six-pack holders can get hung around the neck and be fatal to 
birds and other wildlife." 


The bill shows further promise for passage in 2009 and is tentatively titled,  
"Tennessee Beverage Container Recycling Act of 2009".  The following is an 
update from Marge Davis, who is coordinating this effort with State 
Legislators.  Marge is scheduled to speak to the Nashville Chapter of TOS on 
February 19, 2009 and could possibly be available to speak to your group also.  
See her contact information at the end of her following report.

Thanks.

Bob Hatcher
TOS Conservation Policy Co-Chair, and
Retired TWRA Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Coordinator (1978 - 2001)
Brentwood, TN 37027
****************************

Pride of Place:
The comprehensive litter and recycling solution made possible by a Tennessee 
bottle bill
November 24, 2008


Dear POP Network:


Welcome back! (And welcome to those who've recently joined this effort.) 


I hope you all had a good long break; now it's time to resume working for a 
clean, green Tennessee by enacting a 5¢ deposit on cans and bottles, increasing 
our container-recycling rates from a miserable 10 percent to a projected 85 
percent, and slashing our litter by as much as half. 


Note: I'm trying to upgrade the look of these e-mails. (Obviously it's a work 
in progress.) In today's edition: 
  1.. Recent developments that should help our cause 
  2.. Key changes to the bill for 2009 
  3.. Strategy for 2009 
  4.. What you can do right now


1. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS THAT SHOULD HELP OUR BILL 


Aluminum Association support. Last week, the powerful Aluminum Association made 
an historic announcement: It now supports container deposit laws as part of a 
"multi-tiered approach" to recycling 75% of aluminum cans by 2015. 


I can't overstate how important this is. Tennessee is home to the largest 
aluminum producer in the world (Alcoa) as well as several other fabricators and 
recyclers. This announcement frees these companies to speak on behalf of 
legislation that most of them have privately wished for, but would not say so 
publicly for fear of repercussions from the beverage manufacturers. They are 
getting repercussions now, but there's safety in numbers.


Besides, I think the beverage folks are finally starting to see the writing on 
the wall. Aluminum is the last of the three container-material trade groups to 
come out in favor of deposits. Earlier this year the glass packaging industry 
reportedly agreed to support bottle bills, though this has not been announced 
formally. (Many of their individual members actively support deposits.) And in 
2006, the plastics recyclers voted to endorse bills to expand existing deposit 
laws. We're hopeful they will now feel safe extending their support to include 
new bottle bills as well.


Economic downturn. The struggling economy should actually benefit our bill. 
Why? First and foremost, IT CREATES JOBS AND BUSINESSES. It reduces costs not 
only for companies like Alcoa (whose profits fell 52% last quarter) but for the 
beverage companies themselves. It saves millions in waste collection, disposal 
and landfill costs. It reduces our dependence on foreign oil. And it eases, at 
least a little, the burden on local governments to support school groups, 
community programs and social services, mainly through "bottle drives," 
donation bins and redemption centers that are operated by homeless shelters and 
other nonprofits.


Focus on sustainability. It's the buzzword of the new century. Our bill should 
benefit from the public/private push for green business, practices, products 
and policies.  


National elections. With Democrats in power, we can expect to see movement on 
the national bottle bill ("Bottle Recycling Climate Protection Act") introduced 
last year by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass). If Tennessee doesn't pass its own bill, 
it may have to comply with a national system that is less to its liking.


State elections. POP has always had bipartisan support. As long as we continue 
to hammer on the economic benefits of this bill (see "Strategy for 2009"), I 
think we could actually fare better under Republican leadership than we did 
under the West Tennessee Democrats, who remain close to former governor and 
beer distributor Ned McWherter. 


2. KEY CHANGES TO THE BILL FOR 2009


The 2008 legislative session gave us a lot of insights. The result is that I've 
spent much of the summer and fall talking with TDEC, recyclers, end-users and 
other deposit states re how best to redesign the bill to ensure its passage 
while making sure it's still workable. There are countless smaller changes, but 
here are the biggies:   


  a.. Bottlers' fee reduced to 1¢ per container. This fee-reduced from 3¢-helps 
cover the cost of seeing that 4 billion containers a year are returned to the 
manufacturing stream. The remaining program costs, including payments to some 
800 redemption centers, will be covered in part by the unclaimed deposits, and 
in part by the tens of millions of dollars worth of high-value scrap. 
  b.. Most allocations eliminated. With the exception of the county litter 
grants program, which will continue to receive roughly $5 million a year for 
prison litter crews and Keep Tennessee Beautiful, the bill no longer designates 
various programs to receive "leftover" program funds. Given the reduction in 
the bottlers' fee, there probably won't be any leftovers. However, the bill 
stipulates that if extra funds are available, local governments may apply for 
grants for things like litter control and recycling. 
  c.. Processors buy the empties. It's a little complicated to explain, but 
under last year's bill, the redemption centers were not authorized to sell the 
scrap; they simply gave it away to certified processors. Under the revised 
bill, processors will pay market rates for the scrap; they will also get 2% of 
the refund value to cover administrative costs.


Until the 2009 bill has been assigned a number and filed (probably late 
January), I won't post it on our website. However, I'll summarize the proposed 
changes on the "Legislation" page.


3. STRATEGY FOR 2009


Show them the money! That's our strategy! This bill is like the smartest 
investment you ever made. In return for an annual buy-in of $45 million (the 
amount beverage distributors will pay to the state in 1¢ bottlers' fees), 
Tennessee will reap more than $300 million a year in benefits. And that's just 
in dollars generated and/or costs avoided. It doesn't include the 
harder-to-quantify benefits to tourism, energy conservation, greenhouse gas 
emissions, farming, public pride and so on. Nor does it include the increased 
revenues that local governments are sure to reap as their overall recycling 
rates increase-which invariably happens with bottle bills.  


This is not a namby-pamby, tree-hugger bill! It is a serious, sober-minded 
business strategy, which is precisely why it has the support of industry giants 
like Alcoa. 


Specifically, here's what we propose for 2009: 
  a.. Every day will be POP's "Day on the Hill." I spend pretty much every 
Tuesday and Wednesday of the winter and spring at Legislative Plaza. This year, 
I want to be joined by a different person (or persons) every day, representing 
some aspect of the benefits-especially the economic  benefits-of this bill. 
Recyclers-teachers-restaurant and resort owners-county 
mayors-realtors-manufacturers-Habitat for Humanity leaders-parks 
personnel-beautification boards-solid-waste managers-investors-homeless 
advocates-farmers-developers-bar owners-outdoor outfitters-convention-center 
managers-economic development directors-marina operators-prospective 
redemption-center owners ... the possibilities are endless.  
  b.. All of our communication tools-fact sheets, press releases, PowerPoints 
presentations, etc.-will repeat the economic benefits until every legislator on 
Capitol Hill can recite the numbers blindfolded. 
  c.. We will preempt the opposition's strategy (we believe they're planning to 
offer pilot grants for curbside and other voluntary recycling) by showing how a 
bottle bill is an even more cost-effective kickstart to these other programs, 
and a vital component of a truly comprehensive solid-waste-management plan. I 
have plenty of data showing how a deposit system makes curbside more lucrative, 
and how a deposit makes recycling immediately available to all Tennesseans, not 
just those who live in the handful of communities that offer curbside.     
  d.. We will continue to show legislators the results of the UT survey (March) 
in which 80.4 percent of respondents (all registered voters) said they would 
like a bottle bill. 


4. WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW


  a.. Start lining up people for the daily "Day on the Hill." I mean it; I 
can't do this alone. Look around your community for folks whose business, 
agency or organization would benefit from this bill. Tell them I'll give them 
all the info they need; in return we ask them to commit to just one day in 
Nashville during the session. If you belong to a trade group or statewide 
organization, ask your colleagues to appoint a small delegation to make the 
trip. If you yourself are available to come to Nashville, call or e-mail me 
with your information and the dates you might be available. I've already 
started a calendar. 
  b.. If you have a newly elected legislator, ask him or her for a meeting 
before the session begins. Let me know if I can join you, because I want to 
meet with all newcomers before January anyway. They should all be aware of the 
bill, because I sent a briefing to every candidate before the primaries. I can 
certainly provide updates. But the most important thing they need to know, 
before they take office, is that their constituents want this bill. 


Marge Davis, Ph.D.
Coordinator
Pride of Place/Tennessee Bottle Bill Project
A Project of Scenic Tennessee, Inc.
45 Burris Court
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122
home (615) 758-8647
fax (615) 754-0966 
cell (615) 294-2651
www.tnbottlebill.org
margedavis@xxxxxxxxxxx


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