Sign-on Letter in Support of
Senate Bill 2220, The National
Beverage Producer Responsibility Act

Delivered July 11, 2002

To: Environment and Public Works Committee

From: 57 National, State & Local Organizations & Businesses

Dear Senator:

The 11 national organizations and 45 state and local organizations and businesses listed below, in addition to the City and County of San Francisco, are writing to urge you to co-sponsor the National Beverage Producer Responsibility Act, S. 2220, and attend the Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on July 11th.

For over thirty years, bottle bills have been extremely effective at achieving economic, social and environmental goals. The 10 states with deposit laws recycle more containers than all the other 40 states together. But bottle bills have also been unpopular with the regulated parties. The National Beverage Producer Responsibility Act presents an opportunity to provide a new approach that addresses concerns of the industry stakeholders without compromising the public interest.

A recent study shows that over 114 billion beverage containers are wasted each year. The aluminum can recycling rate for 2001 dipped below 50% for the first time in 16 years. Plastic bottle waste has doubled in the past decade while recovery rates in non-deposit states are on the order of 10%.

The National Beverage Producer Responsibility Act sets a performance standard which industry must meet and allows industry the freedom to design the most efficient deposit-return program to reach the standard. By providing beverage companies the flexibility to structure and operate their own container recovery programs, this legislation simply extends the beverage company's 'supply chain' to include the management of empty containers after consumption. This approach is appealing because it reduces the administrative burden on government and takes full advantage of the business skills of industry.

Recycling is an easy way to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve natural resources. An 80 percent recovery rate would save the equivalent of 640 million barrels of oil over a ten-year period, or enough energy to meet the needs of 5 million households a year.

Join with Senator Jeffords in holding the beverage industry responsible for increasing bottle and can recycling by challenging the industry to create cost-effective solutions.

Please co-sponsor S. 2220 and attend the Environment and Public Works Committee hearings on July 11th.

Sincerely,

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