tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77169823864019312212024-03-12T22:50:54.494-04:00Update the Massachusetts Bottle BillPhil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-37504961956003279892014-11-01T10:12:00.001-04:002014-11-01T15:52:27.096-04:00Separating Fact from Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>by Phil Sego, Massachusetts Sierra Club</i></div>
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Since the campaign to pass Question 2, <i>the Bottle Bill Update</i>, began, consumers have been deluged with conflicting information. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked… is it really true that the bottle bill will cause <i>...</i>?<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign.htm#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8666667938232px;">[i]</span></span></a></div>
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<b>What exactly will the bottle bill do, and what won’t it do?</b></div>
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Very simply, passing Question 2 will extend the same advantages and benefits to non-carbonated beverages that currently exist for soda and beer.</div>
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<b>1 – Passing Question 2 will help stop litter.</b> The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife, Riverways Division has, on numerous litter cleanups, counted what they found: <b>a non-deposit bottle is NINE times more likely to become litter than a deposit bottle</b>. At these cleanups, deposit bottles were rare.</div>
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<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign_files/image008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" border="0" src="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign_files/image008.jpg" height="131" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2" width="267" /></a><b>2 - Passing Question 2 will increase recycling</b>. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is responsible for the state’s waste and recycling management. After numerous studies, they have stated that 80% of deposit bottles are recycled, but only 23% of water bottles are recycled. The rest become litter or trash.</div>
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<b>3 – Passing Question 2 will save money for our cities and towns. </b>Picking up litter and trash costs money, and this burden is placed on our struggling municipalities. Litter cleanup is costly, and between cleanups, our streets and parks are too often litter strewn. Half the litter is water and juice bottles. A study by Mass DEP showed that cities and towns would save $7 million every year if we enact the bottle bill update.</div>
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<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign_files/image004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" alt="http://www.aacounty.org/sebin/g/u/Litter.gif" border="0" src="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign_files/image004.jpg" height="150" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="234" /></a><b>What voters need to know</b>: Out-of-state Big Beverage Companies have put $9 million into defeating Question 2. Rather than telling consumer that they simply want to sell more beverages at higher profits, they’re conducting a campaign of disinformation. Investigative journalists around the state have repeatedly caught them lying in their ads, and the “no” side has been forced to change them. You can decide if they have any credibility left.</div>
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On the YES side are respected non-profits like the Sierra Club, Mass Audubon, and League of Women Voters MA, and 100 environmental and non-profit organizations. On the ‘no’ side are Big Beverage companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Polar, Nestle, the big supermarkets, and the trash haulers.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: This will cost consumers $20-40-60-100 million.</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign_files/image006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" border="0" src="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign_files/image006.jpg" height="151" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_3" width="194" /></a>TRUTH: The bottlers’ claims have changed daily, and they even changed them during a debate.<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign.htm#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8666667938232px;">[ii]</span></span></a> This is just another example of their effort to mislead voters with scare tactics. The TRUTH is that when ME, NY, CT, OR and CA updated their bottle bills, the bottlers also predicted huge cost increases, <b>which never happened</b>. The reality is that DEP found that beverage costs were actually higher in NH – which has no BB than in Maine, which has the biggest BB. The error-ridden ‘financial impact report’ paid for published by the beverage industry claimed still another amount. Big Beverage paid off a professor $7 to rubber stamp it. The ‘no’ side has openly rejected all Federal, State, and exiting industry data and substituted a new set paid for by the Big Beverage industry.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: Cities and towns will lose valuable materials</b></div>
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TRUTH: The Massachusetts DEP reports that cities and towns will save up $7 million in litter cleanup, <i>even taking into account any losses from the sale of recyclables</i>. As a result, we’ll have cleaner parks, cleaner streets, and cleaner ballfields. We’ll have cleaner municipalities, with parks that people can be proud of.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: It’s only 1/2%, 1/8%, or 1/12%<sup> </sup>of the waste stream</b></div>
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TRUTH: On one hand, our opponents are claiming that it’s a tiny percentage of the waste stream, and their numbers change daily. On the other they’re claiming that it’s SO HUGE that our trash rates will skyrocket. The real number, according to DEP’s reports, is about 12% by volume. Anyone who’s been to a landfill will verify that as an obvious fact.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: This is an old law</b></div>
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TRUTH: Old laws are bad? Like the Bill of Rights, the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act? This makes no sense; it’s simply the result of a focus group response. Old laws are as valid as new laws, perhaps even more so.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: The bottle bill is a tax</b></div>
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If so, where can I get a refund on my income and property taxes? You can get your nickels back at just about any store or redemption center in the state. A deposit and a tax are very different, and this deposit is 100% refundable.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: The inflation escalator clause is “taxation without representation.” </b>TRUTH: Veteran’s benefits and social security are examples of the use of inflation indexing. There are well over 10,000 government payments, charges, deposits, and fees that are stated as percentages of adjusted to the consumer price index. These are adjusted by state regulatory agencies and not the legislature. It’s preposterous to believe that the state legislature can or should review the thousands of payments, charges, deposits, and fees on an annual basis. But voters need to know that they will always get 100% of their deposit back. By the year 2050, when a 20-ounce bottle of Coke is projected to cost $3.80, the deposit will only be a dime.</div>
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<b>CLAIM: People already have curbside which is easier</b></div>
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Curbside recycling is great – if you never leave your home. But people do leave, and since 75% of these beverages are consumed on-the-go, they’re out of the reach of curbside. That’s why only 23% of non-deposit bottles are recycled vs. 80% of nickel deposit bottles.</div>
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What’s really important is that the bottle bill is the best proven recycling system for bottles and cans by far. The bottle bill gets <b>80% of nickel deposit containers. This is many more times as effective as curbside, which recycles only 23%.</b> You have to be really bad at math to think that 23% is better. Litter cleanups prove that a water bottle is nine times more likely to become litter than a deposit bottle.</div>
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Litter cleanup is expensive, stopping it before it happens is best. And studies prove that a non-deposit bottle is 9X more likely to become litter than one with a nickel deposit. We want clean parks, beaches, streets, and ballfields. When tourists come to our beautiful state, they always comment on how litter strewn it is.</div>
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On one side are 100 environmental and non-profit organizations, like the Sierra Club, LWVMA, Audubon, and every enviro org in the state. It’s also supported by Governor Patrick, Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, over a hundred elected leaders, and 210 cities and towns. On the other is the out-of-state big beverage companies and people they’ve paid to do their bidding.</div>
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<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign.htm#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333320617676px;">[i]</span></span></a> Will the Bottle Bill Cause Earthquakes is a parody written in 1982 by marketing guru Ken Swope for our first campaign to pass the bottle bill. The industry arguments were as silly then as they are now. Visit http://youtu.be/ZAlzA3zralk</div>
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<a href="http://www.sierraclubmass2.org/i/since_the_campaign.htm#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333320617676px;">[ii]</span></span></a> MassRecycle Oct 28, 2014. The opponents stated $60, $68, and 100 million</div>
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Phil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-84384208360013564352014-10-29T18:55:00.002-04:002014-10-30T06:49:50.678-04:00Claims of Delusion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>by Phil Sego, Massachusetts Sierra Club</i><br />
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Like many of the proponents who are working on the bottle bill, I've been making presentations before various groups and organizations. Some of us, including myself, have been meeting the opposition toe-to-toe in formal televised debates.<br />
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I've never considered myself a debater. I am passionate about the bottle bill, and angered by the misstatements and fabrications by our opponents. I try to focus on the issues, but some times, the constant stream of disinformation makes me wonder, "Do these people actually think anyone believes them?" Sadly, many people do.<br />
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These are just a few of the more common fabrications by our opponents:<br />
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"Prices will go up $20 million (or sometimes 40, 60, and 140 million)"<br />
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The number seems to be going up every day. In just one hour, while I was participating in a debate yesterday, the number jumped from 60 to 68. But a month ago, it was 140. <br />
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The FACT is that every time that any state tries to update or pass a bottle bill, the Big Beverage companies threaten a price increase -- and they've been doing this for over 30 years, In fact, they said the same thing here in 1982 when we enacted <i>our </i>bottle bill. A year later, the VP of Coca-Cola Donald Dowd admitted that it was a lie.<br />
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The TRUTH is that when Maine, Connecticut, California, Oregon, and New York updated their bottle bills, the bottlers also threatened massive increases. <b>None of these threats ever materialized.</b><br />
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To get to the truth, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) studied beverage costs in New England, They found that costs were <i>actually higher in NH – which has no Bottle bill. </i> Maine, which has the most comprehensive bottle bill, had the lowest costs. So much for the scare tactics and threats from Big Beverage.<br />
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The bottlers have been caught repeatedly in this game of "scare the consumer." They've been caught falsifying data repeatedly by investigative reporters. The 20-40-100 million threat is just another example of making claims to scare and mislead voters. The fact is that they've lost all credibility.<br />
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<i>Phil Sego is an Environmental Advocate at the Massachusetts Sierra Club</i><br />
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Phil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-30104011871491453652014-10-20T21:32:00.001-04:002014-10-20T21:32:28.325-04:00LTE 10/16: Vote Yes On 2<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From The Concord Journal</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Vote yes on 2</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On Election Day, Nov. 4, we will have a chance to bring the current bottle deposit law into the 21st century by voting yes on ballot question 2. The current bottle bill dates from 1982, when many beverages such as sports drinks, juices, water and teas were not sold in bottles.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Non-deposit bottles outnumber deposit bottles three to one in the litter found along streets and in public parks, and are not recycled at curbside. It is estimated that the Expanded Bottle Bill will save cities and towns approximately $6.7 million a year in litter pick up and trash disposal costs. That’s why 209 cities and towns, including Concord, have passed resolutions supporting an updated bottle bill.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The opponents of Vote Yes on 2 are spending millions of dollars to try to defeat this rather mild expansion of an existing bottled that asks that more beverage containers have a refundable deposit at point of purchase. A “yes” vote will decrease litter on our roadsides, at sport events, in parks and trails and wherever people gather.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The state legislature has refused to pass an updated bottle bill for years. Now there is a choice for voters to make on Nov. 4. Please vote yes on Question 2.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">— Ardis Bordman, Monument Street</span></blockquote>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-41870918909058528072014-10-20T21:30:00.003-04:002014-10-20T21:30:57.399-04:0010/15: Mass. should bring bottle bill into 21st century<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.35;"><i>From Suffolk Journal</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.35;">Mass. should bring bottle bill into 21st century</span><span style="line-height: 21.6000003814697px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">By Ian Kea</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s about time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thirty years after the Massachusetts bottle bill was first passed, it now has a chance to be updated on the ballot come Nov. 4, and voters should vote yes on Question 2, the expansion of the bottle bill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">According to bottlebill.com, Massachusetts is one of 10 states to have a bottle deposit system in place. But, the state’s bottle deposit system does not currently accept mainstream beverages such as water, juice and sports drinks. Only carbonated beverages have a deposit. The updated bottle bill would include non-carbonated beverage bottles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The current bottle bill works as followed; retailers, like Market Basket, for example, give distributors, who sell to the retailer for a profit, a 5 cent deposit for each can or bottle purchased. When the consumer purchases a beverage, they are paying that deposit back to the retailer. When they return the can or bottle to a retail store, redemption center, or reverse vending machine, they are refunded for their 5 cent deposit is refunded. Essentially, the bottle bill is an incentive for the consumer to recycle. The end result is more recyclable materials, less waste is produced, more money is saved, and more help to eliminate the world’s carbon footprint.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Opponents of the bill, such as Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker and Coca-Cola, have argued that curbside recycling is already enough. Yet 80 percent of bottles attached with a deposit are recycled, compared to 23 percent of bottles without a deposit attached, according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. All unclaimed deposits would be given back to the state for environmental protection measures, saving taxpayers a small chunk of change come April.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Opponents of the bottle bill have also said it is a waste of taxpayer money, but according to the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, individual cities and towns can save approximately $7 million annually in avoided waste, recycling and litter collection costs through an expanded bottle bill, making it a fiscally responsible choice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Every year across the commonwealth, more than 30,000 tons of non-carbonated beverage bottles are buried in landfills, burned, or littered throughout Massachusetts’ streets, parks, and beaches. According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Sector of Waste and Recycling, that’s enough bottles to fill Fenway Park from the press box to the green monster five times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For the 10 percent of Massachusetts residents who do not have curbside recycling, this expanded bottle bill not only gives an incentive, but also gives many consumers a new opportunity to recycle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Massachusetts, according to Bloomberg.com, is the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient state in the country. The expanded and updated bottle bill would not only create a new standard for recycling in Massachusetts, but the nation as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the past decade, 210 towns in the commonwealth have passed measures supporting a new updated bottle bill, according to the Yes on 2 Coalition. Now it is voters’ turn to vote yes on Question 2, to save money, reduce litter, become more energy efficient, as well as create a new national standard for recycling.</span></div>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-84041868840852446712014-10-20T21:28:00.006-04:002014-10-20T21:28:59.740-04:0010/16: Vote yes on the bottle bill this Nov.<div class="post-title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Merriweather; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>From Tufts Daily</i></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Vote yes on the bottle bill this Nov.</span></h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This November, Massachusetts voters will have an important opportunity to reduce litter and further their state’s commitment to recycling through a ballot referendum. Question 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot — also known as the bottle bill</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">– would expand the state’s beverage container deposit law.</span>Massachusetts voters should be informed about the effects of Question 2 and we urge you to vote in favor of it. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">A yes vote will expand deposits to containers not currently included under the law — nonalcoholic, non-carbonated drinks. The proposal also includes a provision requiring the state to adjust the container deposit amount every five years to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index. Future deposit rates could not be set below five cents if passed.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Conservation and community groups have lobbied for years for the expansion of the bottle bill to include plastic bottles of non-carbonated beverages.</span> Supporters of Question 2 argue that the existing bottle bill is not expansive enough. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Statistics show that while 80 percent of beer and soda containers get recycled, only 23 percent of nondeposit containers do.</span> Although opponents of the bill argue that the price hike will be costly to consumers, the solution is simple: Consumers can get back their five cents if they recycle the bottle. The money leftover from consumers who do not collect their deposit would enter a re-established Clean Environment Fund to be used for cleaning up parks and other environmental projects in the state. Expanding this law would not only increase recycling and decrease the amount of recyclable items in landfills, but, according to the Coalition for an Updated Bottle Bill, could also save up to $7 million annually for municipalities by reducing costs of trash removal.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">While a yes vote would expand the bottle bill effective April 22, 2015, a vote against Question 2 this November would leave the law as it currently is</span>. Opponents of the bill argue that the proposal wastes taxpayer dollars to expand an outdated system and instead, Massachusetts should seek other methods to increase recycling. <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">An alternative plan was proposed to repeal the bottle bill entirely, but research from the Sierra Club Massachusetts determined that this plan would result in significant job loss as well as a reduced recycling rate.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Local communities along with groups such as Mass Audubon Society and the Merrimack River Watershed Council have voiced support for Question 2.</span> On Nov. 4 voters will get a chance to speak up as well. If you plan to vote on Nov. 4, don’t ignore the ballot initiatives like the bottle bill. Instead, voice your support for a cleaner environment by voting in support of the referendum.</div>
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Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-43011993001597448352014-10-20T21:25:00.002-04:002014-10-20T21:25:31.162-04:0010/15: How to Cap Plastic Bottle Waste<div class="copy" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #202f33; font-family: 'Freight Text W00', Georgia, serif; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit; word-break: break-word;">
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<i>From Good Magazine</i><span style="font-style: inherit;"><br />By: Angie Schmitt<br />In the United States alone, <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/whats-the-problem-with-plastic-bottles/" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">1,500</a> plastic bottles of water are consumed every second. Every hour, Americans throw away, on average, about <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/infographic-americans-throw-away-25-million-plastic-bottles-every-hour/" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">2.5 million</a> plastic bottles of all types. If we include all cans and bottles—soda, teas, energy drinks, beer—about 224 billion beverage containers are tossed out every year, adding up to literal mountains of trash.</span></div>
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Though recently plastic bags have been a hot topic and the focus of environmental campaigns in states like California, plastic bottles are also a major offender, contributing significantly to the almost <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.vox.com/2014/10/4/6901299/plastic-bags-environment" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">32 million tons</a> of plastic that ends up in landfills every year. Only about <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.container-recycling.org/index.php/recycling-rates-by-material-and-class-2006" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">23 percent</a> of plastic bottles are ever recycled, in part because they’re often consumed on the go. Because these bottles take from 450 to almost 1,000 years to <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.postconsumers.com/education/how-long-does-it-take-a-plastic-bottle-to-biodegrade/" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">biodegrade</a>, each year, the pile grows larger. Every single piece of plastic ever produced still exists somewhere.</div>
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<img src="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538471/original/Bottles2.png=s500x1300" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit;" /><span class="share" style="-webkit-transform: translate3d(-100px, 0px, 0px); -webkit-transition: all 200ms ease-in-out 0ms; border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: inherit; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(-100px, 0px, 0px); transition: all 200ms ease-in-out 0ms;"><a class="fa fa-pinterest managed-link" data-image-url="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538471/original/Bottles2.png=s1600x1600" data-share-image="pinterest" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgba(7, 12, 13, 0.498039); border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 14px; text-transform: inherit;"></a> <a class="fa fa-tumblr managed-link" data-image-url="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538471/original/Bottles2.png=s1600x1600" data-share-image="tumblr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgba(7, 12, 13, 0.498039); border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 14px; text-transform: inherit;"></a></span></div>
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And the waste—as bafflingly enormous as it is—only accounts for part of the problem. Plastic bottles are also extremely energy intensive to produce. Fill up a plastic bottle about <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/whats-the-problem-with-plastic-bottles/" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">a quarter</a> of the way—that’s about how much oil it takes just to produce the package. Just supplying Americans with plastic bottles consumes <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.banthebottle.net/articles/plastic-water-bottles-impose-health-and-environmental-risks/" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">15 to 17 million</a> barrels of oil annually—enough for 100,000 cars. And that doesn’t even include the energy consumed by hauling them around in heavy trucks.</div>
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Though nobody’s seriously flirting with an outright ban, plastic bottles lend themselves to an elegant policy trick that can greatly reduce the environmental impact of all that guzzling. You might even have it where you live: It’s called a bottle bill.</div>
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Bottle bills require beverage retailers to collect a five-cent (or more) deposit on every recyclable bottle sold. The deposit is returned to the consumer when they return the bottle. Ten states, including California, Michigan and Massachusetts, currently have bottle bills in place.</div>
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Adding that tiny deposit—that little system of reward for those who consume responsibly—can have an enormous environmental impact. States with bottle bills recycle beverage containers at almost three times the rate of states that do not. In Michigan, which has the highest deposit rate in the nation (10 cents), the bottle bill has been credited with reducing total waste <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.bottlebill.org/about/benefits/waste.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">6 to 8 percent</a> a year.</div>
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“What’s true is that the bottle bill is the most effective program ever devised to prevent litter and increase recycling,” wrote Phil Sego of the Massachusetts Sierra Club recently in <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit;">The </em><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit;"><a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-sego/big-beverage-vs-the-envir_b_5929016.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a></em>.</div>
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Sego is part of a coalition in Massachusetts fighting to update bottle laws that predate new types of drink containers, mainly from non-carbonated juices, or soft drinks like Gatorade.</div>
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<img src="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538472/original/Bottles3.png=s1300x1300" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: none; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit;" /><span class="share" style="-webkit-transform: translate3d(-100px, 0px, 0px); -webkit-transition: all 200ms ease-in-out 0ms; border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: inherit; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(-100px, 0px, 0px); transition: all 200ms ease-in-out 0ms;"><a class="fa fa-pinterest managed-link" data-image-url="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538472/original/Bottles3.png=s1600x1600" data-share-image="pinterest" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgba(7, 12, 13, 0.498039); border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 14px; text-transform: inherit;"></a> <a class="fa fa-tumblr managed-link" data-image-url="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538472/original/Bottles3.png=s1600x1600" data-share-image="tumblr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgba(7, 12, 13, 0.498039); border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 14px; text-transform: inherit;"></a></span></div>
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Updating the bottle law, he says, would save the state’s taxpayers $7 million annually in waste management costs and prevent an additional 1.25 billion bottles from ending up in landfills—that’s enough to fill Fenway Park every year.</div>
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The power of bottle bills is how it shifts the costs and responsibilities associated with beverage bottles from municipalities to producers and consumers. Just a small monetary deposit can dramatically change the equation.</div>
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But the most dramatic impact of these bills is the extent to which they curb littering. In total, <a class="managed-link external-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twrGqA_4gGw" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">about 2 billion</a> beverage containers a year are discarded in open or public places, according to the Container Recycling Institute. These bottles end up strewn about our streets and public places, from highway embankments to parks. Some of those will even eventually make it to the <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/opinion/choking-the-oceans-with-plastic.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a>. <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.bottlebill.org/about/benefits/litter.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">Studies</a> have shown these bills reduce bottle litter by as much as 84 percent and overall litter by close to two-thirds.</div>
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<img src="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538473/original/Bottles4.png=s500x1300" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit;" /><span class="share" style="-webkit-transform: translate3d(-100px, 0px, 0px); -webkit-transition: all 200ms ease-in-out 0ms; border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; left: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: inherit; top: 0px; transform: translate3d(-100px, 0px, 0px); transition: all 200ms ease-in-out 0ms;"><a class="fa fa-pinterest managed-link" data-image-url="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538473/original/Bottles4.png=s1600x1600" data-share-image="pinterest" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgba(7, 12, 13, 0.498039); border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 14px; text-transform: inherit;"></a> <a class="fa fa-tumblr managed-link" data-image-url="http://assets.goodstatic.com/s3/magazine/assets/538473/original/Bottles4.png=s1600x1600" data-share-image="tumblr" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background: rgba(7, 12, 13, 0.498039); border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 14px; text-transform: inherit;"></a></span></div>
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Unfortunately, environmentalists promoting bottle bills face an uphill battle against big beverage. Multinational firms like Coke and Pepsi have little interest in recycling or local quality of life and have billions to spend on opposing bottle bills. In Massachusetts, beverage companies have already spent $8 million just fighting the minor update in the state legislature. That’s compared to a mere $600,000 raised by the environmental coalition promoting the bill. Environmental advocates will also ask <a class="managed-link external-link" href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/10/bottle_deposit_petition_approv.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgba(32, 47, 51, 0.14902); border-bottom-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: content-box; color: #0080d0; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: inherit;" target="_blank">Ohio voters</a> to approve a totally new bottle bill in November. They’ll face long odds, but if they succeed, the benefits for the state could be enormous.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: content-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: inherit;">Illustrations by Josh Covarrubias</em></div>
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Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-52549379018739748122014-10-20T21:19:00.004-04:002014-10-20T21:19:50.917-04:00LTE 10/10: Sixth Grader: Yes on bottle bill is a vote for the next generation<div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 11.326px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From the Lowell Sun</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm not old enough to vote, but this is what my sixth-grade class wants in their future. Don't make us wait until we are old enough to take action ourselves. Take action now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The present bottle bill is good, but our plan for the future is better. The present bottle bill requires containers of carbonated beverages to be returnable for five cents. It doesn't cover containers of noncarbonated beverages like water, tea, or sports drinks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The new bottle bill that people will vote for will help us use less plastic. There will be less money for trash service from the city. It helps us make a cleaner environment, such as cleaner highways and nonpolluted oceans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you start recycling and refunding bottles and paper, they can turn into reliable resources people may need in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Please vote for the bottle bill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">KELLIE LAMARCHE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lowell</span></div>
<span style="line-height: 22.6520004272461px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_26701277/sixth-grader-yes-bottle-bill#ixzz3GjpAHEMG" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_26701277/sixth-grader-yes-bottle-bill#ixzz3GjpAHEMG</a></span></span>Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-74608910900713066332014-10-20T21:18:00.003-04:002014-10-20T21:18:21.184-04:00LTE 10/10: Vote yes on bottle bill question<div class="meta" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14px;">
<i style="background-color: white;">From The Jamaica Plain Gazette</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">By <a href="http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/author/admin/" rel="author" style="color: #205b87; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Gazette Staff">Gazette Staff</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Given all the controversial issues facing us in the coming election, there is one issue that should be, in the common parlance, a “no-brainer:” a yes vote on Question 2, the Bottle Bill.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The bill would revise the existing one to include bottled water, tea, sports drinks and other beverages, which now most often end up in our city drains, parks and nature centers. We should know. Boston Nature Center volunteers and staff spend countless hours picking up these bottles that have floated down drain pipes and ended up in Canterbury Brook and on the banks of its tributaries. Question 2 would reduce this litter and increase recycling rates.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Currently, even with curbside collection for these kinds of bottles in half our cities and towns, only 23 percent of bottles without deposits are recycled, compared with 80 percent of redeemable bottles.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">When the first bottle bill was passed, sports drinks and bottled water were not the popular drinks that they are today. We need to update the bottle bill, so that we can keep our parks, rivers and nature centers clean, and save money in the process. It is indeed a no-brainer.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Julie Brandlen</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Anne and Peter Brooke Director</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Boston Nature Center</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Mattapan</span><br />
<em style="background-color: white;">Editor’s Note: The writer is a JP resident.</em></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 14px;">- See more at: http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/2014/10/10/letter-vote-yes-on-bottle-bill-question/#sthash.5jT1Qmoy.dpuf</span>Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-83838617619746489482014-10-20T21:12:00.004-04:002014-10-20T21:12:36.242-04:0010/9: Gov. Patrick says beverage industry associate told him bottle bill expansion would fail because 'we have more money than you'<i>From State House News Service</i><br />
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Gov. Deval Patrick supports a ballot question expanding the bottle deposit law to water and sports drinks, an idea he has repeatedly filed during his seven-plus years as governor, but which has never cleared the Legislature.</div>
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On Thursday, Patrick told a story during a WGBH radio interview that shed some light on the dynamics at work behind the proposal.</div>
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Before he became governor, Patrick worked for Coca-Cola. He said that when he filed his bottle bill proposal one year, an old colleague from his days in the industry, but not from Coca-Cola, called him and asked what he was up to.</div>
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Patrick said he told him, "I've done some homework. I understand it better."</div>
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The governor said the colleague laughed and predicted Patrick would not be successful with his proposal "because we have more money than you do."</div>
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Opponents of the ballot question, in a campaign fueled by bottling industry funding, have spent heavily on ads promoting additional consumer costs associated with an expanded bottle bill and touting curbside recycling as a better alternative. They <a href="http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/10/mass_question_2_opponents_pay_professor.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="blank">came under fire on Thursday</a>, however, when it was revealed they paid a Tufts professor $7,000 prior to that professor endorsing a study which was critical of the movement to expand deposits to include non-carbonated beverage containers in the commonwealth.</div>
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Recent polls show voters are leaning against Question 2, which is on the ballot Nov. 4.</div>
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Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-2329649299228560182014-10-20T21:11:00.001-04:002014-10-20T21:11:05.250-04:0010/10: Yes on 2 will boost recycling<div class="byline" style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; font-size: 10px; padding: 0px 0px 2px;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From telegram.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>By Phil Sego</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Over 30 years ago, Massachusetts took a big step toward a cleaner environment and controlling litter when it put a five-cent refundable deposit on the most popular beverages at the time: soda and beer. That deposit system has been a huge success for over three decades — 80 percent of bottles and cans with a deposit are recycled, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.<br /><br />Today, bottled water, sports drinks, iced teas, juices, and other on-the-go beverages are widely available and extremely popular. Just 23 percent of these bottles — bottles without a deposit — are recycled, even with the availability of curbside recycling.<br /><br />Since these beverages are so often consumed away from home, the bottles wind up in the trash or littering our streets and parks, not in the home recycling bin.<br /><br />We need to update the Bottle Bill — the most effective recycling tool we have — to cover water bottles and similar on-the-go drinks that weren't on the shelves 30 years ago, so that these beverage containers are recycled just as soda and beer containers are recycled.<br /><br />When we vote yes to pass Question 2, over 1.25 billion more bottles will be diverted from landfills and will be recycled each year.<br /><br />In addition to keeping more bottles out of our state's waterways, parks, and streets, Question 2 would establish the Clean Environment Fund, directly sending the unclaimed deposits into a dedicated fund to improve recycling, clean up parks, and fund other environmental projects.<br /><br />Only a yes vote on Question 2 will remove unclaimed deposits from the commonwealth's general fund and put them into this fund for the environment.<br /><br />Over 100 organizations, committees, businesses, and elected officials support updating the Bottle Bill, including the Environmental League of Massachusetts, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Rep. Mary Keefe (D-Worcester), Shrewsbury Recycles, and the West Boylston Solid Waste Advisory Team.<br /><br />Corporations that make big profits from selling bottled water, sports drinks, and other similar products are spending millions in out-of-state money to persuade Massachusetts voters the Bottle Bill should not be updated.<br /><br />Whenever you see empty bottles along I-290 or in Quinsigamond State Park, remember that big beverage companies have poured almost $8 million into Massachusetts to keep it that way. They are more concerned with protecting their profits than protecting our open spaces from litter.<br /><br />Voting yes on Question 2 will also save cities and towns about $7 million a year now spent for litter collection, trash disposal, and storm drain cleaning. Worcester alone would save almost $200,000 annually. In fact, 209 cities and towns passed resolutions in support of the updated Bottle Bill knowing they would save money.<br /><br />In his recent endorsement of a yes vote on Question 2, Gov. Patrick said it perfectly: "Yes on 2 will increase recycling, clean up our parks, and save cities and towns money."<br /><br />The choice is simple: voting yes on Question 2 will save taxpayers money while keeping our beautiful state beautiful. Massachusetts voters who want less litter and more recycling will vote yes on Question 2 on Nov. 4.<br /><br /><em class="i">Phil Sego is an environmental advocate at the Massachusetts Sierra Club, where he's worked for 12 years on environmental issues. He is also a member of the YES on 2 Coalition to Update the Bottle Bill. </em></span></div>
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Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-44133780479450360322014-10-20T21:09:00.002-04:002014-10-20T21:09:36.649-04:00OPED 10/10: Unwarranted fears were spread about ’82 bottle bill too<i>From The Boston Globe</i><br />
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<span class="span" id="U742556592629NEB" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">THE FIRST </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;">Massachusetts bottle bill, back in 1982, was attacked in the same way that Question 2 is now being attacked (</span><a class="a" href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/02/bottle-question-supporters-decry-ads-support-grows-for-opponents-question/hJG1Hc20xLOIEO4aZWa3PM/story.html" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear, background-color 0.1s linear; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s linear, background-color 0.1s linear; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">“Ads with inaccurate data aid foes of wider bottle law,”</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;">Page A1, Oct. 3). It was said of the first bill that it would increase the cost of soda (it did not), that it wouldn’t really reduce litter (it did), and that it would cost the state money (it increased revenues).</span><br />
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We should not be fooled by the ads the bottling companies are airing.</div>
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We know that more than two-thirds of redeemable cans are recycled and only about a quarter of non-redeemable ones are.</div>
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We know that our parks and nature sanctuaries are filled with litter from these nonredeemable cans and bottles, such as tea, water, and sports drinks.</div>
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We know that many towns and cities don’t have curbside recycling.</div>
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Let’s pass Question 2.</div>
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<ld></ld><name>Margaret Rhodes</name></div>
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<ld></ld><source></source>Brookline</div>
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Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-40798742367713029082014-10-20T21:08:00.000-04:002014-10-20T21:08:04.929-04:00OPED 10/10: At nature center, they’re sadly downstream of our recycling woes<div id="U7425565923960OB" itemprop="articleBody" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.125em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>From The Boston Globe</i></div>
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<span class="span" id="U7425565923960pC" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">GIVEN ALL </span>the controversial issues facing us in the coming election, there is one issue that should be a no-brainer: a yes vote on Question 2, the bottle bill. The bill would revise the existing one, to include bottled water, tea, sports drinks, and other beverages, which now often end up in our city drains, parks, and nature centers.</div>
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We should know. Volunteers and staff at Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center spend countless hours picking up bottles that have floated down storm drain pipes and ended up in Canterbury Brook and the banks of its tributaries. Question 2 would reduce this litter and increase recycling rates.</div>
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Currently, even with curbside collection for these kinds of bottles in about half of our cities and towns, only about 23 percent of bottles without deposits are recycled, compared with 80 percent of redeemable bottles.</div>
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When the first bottle bill was passed, in 1982, sports drinks and bottled water were not the popular drinks that they are today.</div>
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We need to update the bill so that we can keep our parks, rivers, and nature centers clean and save money in the process.</div>
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<ld></ld><name>Julie Brandlen</name></div>
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<ld></ld><source></source>Director</div>
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<ld></ld><source></source>Boston Nature Center</div>
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<ld></ld><source></source>Mattapan</div>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-67541808193392913052014-10-20T21:04:00.000-04:002014-10-20T21:04:50.275-04:0010/9: Professor cited as expert was paid by bottle-law opponents<ul class="width100percent" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 656.59375px;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />By Colleen Quinn<br />State House News Service </span><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted Oct. 9, 2014 @ 3:49 pm<br />Updated Oct 9, 2014 at 4:01 PM </span><br /><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">BOSTON -- A Tufts University professor recently cited by bottle bill expansion opponents for his endorsement of an independent study of the proposal's impact was paid $7,000 by the ballot committee fighting Question 2.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Backers of the ballot question that would add a 5-cent deposit to water bottles, juices, and other drinks are questioning the credibility of the professor, who agreed with a study that concluded the proposal would cost Massachusetts residents nearly $100 million annually.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Environmentalists from "Stop the Litter - Yes On 2" campaign allege that the professor was paid by opponents to agree with the study.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Nicole Giambusso, a spokeswoman for the "No On Question 2 - Stop Forced Deposits," acknowledged that economics professor Jeffrey Zabel was compensated by the campaign for his work, and approached to look at the study because of his expertise in environmental economics.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"When the campaign approached him, he said something to the effect of 'I'm going to do an objective analysis' " Giambusso said.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">According to state campaign finance records, Zabel was paid $7,000 for campaign services by Goddard Gunster Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs and advertising firm. Goddard Gunster was hired by the No On Question 2 campaign, according to Giambusso.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Backers of a ballot question to expand the state's 5 cent deposit on carbonated beverages to other types of beverages say it will increase recycling. Opponents of the idea have citied cost concerns over the years as they prevented the proposal from moving through the Legislature.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Environmentalists say bottles without deposits are thrown away or become litter, and communities bear the burden and costs of cleaning them up. Opponents argue the deposit is an outdated, inefficient method of encouraging recycling, and will cost more than curbside recycling. They say deposits are the wrong approach to boost recycling.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The study by Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants estimated the cost of operating the expanded deposit program would be $68 million and estimated the state would collect an additional $27 million in unclaimed deposits.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Opponents of the ballot question issued a press released last Thursday, a day after records show a payment was made to Zabel, highlighting his findings. "I've read Question 2, I've examined the research thoroughly, and I'm here to tell you: Question 2 might sound like a good idea initially, but a different story emerges when you delve into the economic and environmental costs and benefits," Zabel said in the release, which did not mention that Zabel was paid for his work.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Janet Domenitz, executive director of MASSPIRG, said the No On Question 2 campaign has a credibility problem.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">First, the opponents' campaign said "something that was absolutely a lie" when they aired a television ad stating 90 percent of Massachusetts residents have curbside recycling, Domenitz said. Environmentalists dispute that statistic, and asked the no campaign to pull the ad from the airwaves. State environmental officials also agreed the statistic is too high, and the ad's sponsors recently amended the sourcing in the spot.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, Domenitz said, the campaign is trying to give credibility to the Northbridge study by highlighting the thoughts of an economics professor who was paid for his work by the ballot committee.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"It turns out the professor has been paid by the American Beverage Association," Domenitz said, referring to the trade group that is helping financing the opposition campaign. "It is not Halloween yet, I don't know who they think they are trying to trick."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Domenitz said voters need to know that 80 percent of the containers with the 5 cent deposit get recycled, while only 23 percent without the deposit get recycled.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Zabel told the News Service that before he looked at the study, he believed the so-called bottle bill was a good policy. "But I was convinced otherwise after reading the report," he said<span class="aBn" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wednesday</span>.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"I went in with an objective viewpoint in terms of reviewing their analysis. I think that is the best way to go into these, and I came out with the view that the cost of the expanded bottle bill outweighed the benefits," he said.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Zabel believes the proposal would likely only increase recycling by 1 percent.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Zabel said he disagrees with the argument that his views are skewed because he was paid by opponents of the initiative petition. A professor at Tufts for 25 years, he said he has been hired by consulting firms to do peer reviews before, saying it is common practice. He has been paid to conduct research for the federal Environmental Protection Agency and to do peer review research for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"People get paid for things all the time. Does that mean they are not credible anymore? Most people get paid to do their jobs," Zabel said.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Phil Sego, an environmental advocate for the Massachusetts Sierra Club, said the study's authors, Northbridge Environmental, lobby for the beverage industry. Sego called the proclamations by Zabel "ludicrous."</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"I think $7,000 can buy you all kinds of things," Sego said.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sego said opponents of the deposit try to scare consumers that if the deposit is added to more drinks, manufacturers will raise prices. In other states with deposits, such as Maine, Michigan and Hawaii, product prices did not go up, according to Sego.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"This is a scare tactic that they use," Sego said. "Who are you going to trust, Coke, Pepsi and Nestle, or are you going to trust the League of Women Voters?"</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Massachusetts League of Women Voters supports expanding the bottle deposit law, calling it the "most successful recycling measure in the history of the state," on its website.</span></blockquote>
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</li>
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</li>
</ul>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-16498290082748495252014-10-20T21:00:00.002-04:002014-10-20T21:00:30.599-04:009/25: Big money backs state anti-bottle-bill campaign<div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.1176; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.125em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From The Boston Globe</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Big money backs state anti-bottle-bill campaign</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Another hefty infusion of cash from the American Beverage Association has increased the war chest of those seeking to block the expansion of the state’s bottle redemption law to nearly $8 million — more than quadruple the amount raised by any other ballot campaign.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The No on Question 2 committee, which has already released advertisements seeking to persuade voters to reject adding bottle deposits to water and sports drinks, this month received $2.3 million from the American Beverage Association as well as more than $100,000 from supermarket companies. Last month, the trade association for nonalcoholic drinks contributed more than $5.2 million to the campaign.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Supporters of the ballot question have raised just $525,000, most of which has come from the Massachusetts Sierra Club and other environmental groups. They said they so far lack enough money to buy TV ads.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“We’re in a busy election cycle and we want to reach as many voters as possible; that includes paid media, direct mail, and grass-roots outreach, among other efforts,” said Nicole Giambusso, a spokeswoman for the committee opposing the expansion of the bottle law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But supporters of Question 2 — which would apply the 31-year-old nickel deposit that encourages recycling of soda, beer, and malt beverage containers to noncarbonated beverages — say the financial disparity reflects the interests supporting the opposition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“With each new campaign finance filing, Massachusetts voters can see just how far big beverage companies are willing to go to keep our parks filled with litter from over a billion water bottles, sports drinks, and other beverage containers,” said Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick endorsed Question 2.</span></div>
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<i class="i" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">— David Abel</span></i></div>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-59877363715042981472014-10-20T20:58:00.001-04:002014-10-20T20:58:09.621-04:00PR 10/2: Big Beverage Companies Still Don't Get It<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i>From Yes On 2</i></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Big Beverage Companies Still Don’t Get It:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Lying to Voters In TV Ads Will Not Work</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><i>YES on 2 Will Reduce Litter, Increase Recycling and Save Cities and Towns Millions in Clean-Up Costs Despite Opponent’s Claims</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i></i></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">(BOSTON)--The big beverage company opponents to the bottle bill, increasingly facing pressure because of the credibility problems in their TV ads, today revealed they are changing their ad—a minor change that still leaves the ad far short of any minimum level of credibility.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The “STOP Litter: YES on 2” campaign today blasted the continuing problems with the ad. The ad states that 90 percent of the state has access to easy, curbside recycling. According to state officials, that number is flatly wrong.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">“In a new low even for them, the big, out of state beverage companies pouring millions of dollars into the airwaves have been caught lying to voters. After grassroots organizations filed a complaint with TV stations earlier this week citing FCC guidelines on credibility, the No on 2 campaign has apparently changed its TV ad, proven now to have contained incorrect and false information,” said Janet Domenitz, executive director of MASSPIRG and coalition member of YES on 2. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1">“Sadly, for the voters, it seems the anti-clean environment folks are still trying to mislead even as they try to cover their tracks. The facts are a YES vote on 2 will increase our recycling, and get the littered bottles out of our parks and ball fields.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">“No on 2 is a front for big bottlers and beverage companies, while Yes on 2 is a coalition that includes Sierra Club, Mass Audubon, League of Women Voters, mayors, park rangers, small businesses, and more. Yes on 2 stands for less litter and more recycling. Big beverage companies ---the No on 2 crowd---don’t care about recycling or bottled water litter, they care about their own deep pockets,” Domenitz added.</span></div>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-6854300076814534132014-10-20T20:53:00.000-04:002014-10-20T20:53:08.420-04:00OPED 10/16: Expanded Bottle Deposits Will Clean The Environment<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"><i>From South Coast Today</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By ROBERT M. KOCZERA </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;" /><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted Oct. 16, 2014 @ 12:01 am </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;" /><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the last 50 years we have experienced a doubling of the world's population. Our planet is not getting smaller, but it is getting a bit more crowded.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We need to conserve our natural resources to leave a good environment for our children's children to grow up in. We can start by focusing on reducing the amount of waste in our landfills. By reducing the waste stream we can increase the life of our landfills.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A recent Standard-Times article heralded the doubling of our recycling rates due to the introduction of single-stream recycling in New Bedford and the use of larger bins to accommodate our recyclables. In addition, Dartmouth adopted a "pay as you throw" trash collection program. By doing this we have extended the use of the Crapo Hill landfill beyond its 20-year lifespan by more than 10 years.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We can continue to build on our successes for a cleaner environment by voting yes on Question 2, expanding the bottle bill. The current bottle deposit law results in a recycling rate of 80 percent on all bottle deposit containers. By expanding the bottle deposit law to include water, juice and sports drinks, we will increase our recycling rate of these bottles and greatly reduce litter on our streets.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The recycling rate on non-deposit containers is only 23 percent. Curbside recycling of these containers is not working as well as a bottle deposit would.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The facts are clear: The beverage industry not only produces the drink but they have found a very inexpensive way to bottle their beverages. These bottles are not biodegradable. We must recycle and reuse these containers. We as a society cannot afford to throw them away. While these containers may be cheap for the industry to produce they are not cheap for us consumers to discard.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The beverage industry is spending heavily to defeat Question 2. It is for us the people to keep our communities clean and to leave a healthy environment for those who follow us. Don't be swayed by a high-priced advertising campaign that will end up costing us taxpayers more in waste management costs.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The bottle deposit law works. It works for us and for our future. That is why we need to expand our bottle deposit law to increase recycling of these containers. We need to reuse and conserve our resources so they will continue to be there for us and our children and our children's children.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So vote for a cleaner environment. Vote to prevent litter in our streets. Vote to recycle, reuse and conserve.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.8999996185303px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Vote yes on Question 2.</span></blockquote>
<br />Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-67803933543711093132014-10-20T20:47:00.001-04:002014-10-20T20:47:26.046-04:0010/15: Patrick Has Clear Views on Four Ballot Questions<div class="body-copy column" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; float: left; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 673px;">
<span class="paragraph0"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From State House News Service</i><br />
<strong><br /></strong>
<strong>BOSTON —</strong> Gov. Deval Patrick is ready to bring his strong approval rating to bear on four ballot questions, aiming to preserve gas tax and gaming policies he helped enact, achieve a bottle bill expansion he has long sought and grant more rights to workers.</span></span><div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“With the bottle bill, I did a video for them. So when asked, I’m happy to help,” Patrick told the News Service when asked about his plans to get involved with the four ballot questions. If voters pass Question 2, water, juice and iced tea bottles would be included in the state’s bottle deposit program and the state would be able to periodically adjust the 5-cent deposit.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After a visit to the state Transportation Building Wednesday, Patrick said, “Every one of these issues has a campaign associated with it, on both sides. And I’ve done things when the campaigns have asked me to.”</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The statewide offices of governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general are all open this year and sharing space on the ballot with four referendums that could cause major shifts in state policy.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Last year Patrick urged lawmakers to find the “political courage” to support his $2 billion proposal shifting the tax burden from the sales to the income tax while zeroing out tax breaks.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On Wednesday, speaking to transportation officials interested in public-private partnerships, Patrick praised the bravery of the lawmakers who passed a tax plan that increased tobacco and gas taxes, while linking future gas tax increases to inflation. Lawmakers then quickly repealed a new computer services tax that was one of the major revenue generators in the $500 million tax plan they had approved.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Question 1 would repeal the portion of the law linking the gas tax to inflation, and Patrick has urged voters to reject that referendum.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“One of the great failings in politics is the failure to connect up what it is you pay in taxes to what it is you say you want from government, and people are nervous about that. Political people, elected officials are nervous about having a conversation about taxes,” Patrick said.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Opponents of the indexing law say the legislation absolves lawmakers of their proper responsibility to vote on future increases in the gas tax.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Rep. James Cantwell, of Marshfield, is one of the Democrats who has attracted the attention of a political action group specifically targeting pols on the basis of their support or opposition to gas-tax indexing. Cantwell voted against an initial version of the bill and voted to remove the indexing language, but supported the final version and joined his colleagues in overriding Patrick’s veto.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On Wednesday <a href="http://tankthegastax.net/">TankTheGasTax.Net</a> PAC endorsed Cantwell’s opponent Jim Pavlik and the group has accused Cantwell of “attempting to mislead” voters and said he “failed to stand up for the taxpayers.”</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While Patrick said the vote to raise the gas tax for the first time in 23 years and link future increases to inflation was a “really good idea and a courageous vote by the Legislature,” in 2013 Patrick vetoed the tax law, writing that the bill was “not good enough.” The House and Senate overrode the veto by votes of 123-33 and 35-5.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On Wednesday, Patrick said he still favored his approach but was more complimentary toward lawmakers. “Don’t get me wrong, I asked for more, a lot more. And I asked for it because I think the people of the Commonwealth want a lot more, but it was a big lift. Everybody knew that,” Patrick told the News Service. He said, “There’s no doubt that any tax vote by the Legislature is brave. It’s hard to do. It’s politically risky. But doing the right thing is always the right thing.”</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The expanded gaming law, signed by Patrick in November 2011, was also borne out of a dispute between the legislative and executive branches that jettisoned a prior version of the bill in 2010. Question 3 would repeal the casino and slots parlor gambling that was legalized under the law.</span></div>
<div class="">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Asked if he would help the casino industry that is funding the effort to defeat Question 3, Patrick said, “I think my views are very well known. I don’t think casinos are the be-all or end-all or a centerpiece of our economic growth strategy. I’ve said many, many times that a modest expansion of gaming that allows for a few destination resorts and allows for local communities to decide whether it’s right in their own community is a good way to go.”</span></div>
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Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-54271187324632655192014-10-20T20:44:00.001-04:002014-10-20T20:44:15.928-04:0010/15: Approve bottle bill expansion...<i>From Masslive.com</i><br />
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<strong>By ANDY METZGER</strong></div>
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BOSTON - Gov. <a href="http://topics.masslive.com/tag/deval-patrick/index.html" style="color: #305cb6; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Deval Patrick</a> is ready to bring his strong approval rating to bear on <a href="http://topics.masslive.com/tag/ballot-questions/index.html" style="color: #305cb6; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">four ballot questions</a>, aiming to preserve gas tax and gaming policies he helped enact, achieve a bottle bill expansion he has long sought and grant more rights to workers.</div>
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"With the bottle bill, I did a video for them. So when asked, I'm happy to help," Patrick told a reporter when asked about his plans to get involved with the four ballot questions. If voters pass Question 2, water, juice and iced tea bottles would be included in the state's bottle deposit program and the state would be able to periodically adjust the 5-cent deposit.</div>
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After a visit to the state Transportation Building Wednesday, Patrick said, "Every one of these issues has a campaign associated with it, on both sides. And I've done things when the campaigns have asked me to."</div>
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The statewide offices of governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general are all open this year and sharing space on the ballot with four referendums that could cause major shifts in state policy.</div>
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Last year Patrick urged lawmakers to find the "political courage" to support his $2 billion proposal shifting the tax burden from the sales to the income tax while zeroing out tax breaks.</div>
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On Wednesday, speaking to transportation officials interested in public-private partnerships, Patrick praised the bravery of the lawmakers who passed a tax plan that increased tobacco and gas taxes, while linking future gas tax increases to inflation. Lawmakers then quickly repealed a new computer services tax that was one of the major revenue generators in the $500 million tax plan they had approved.</div>
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Question 1 would repeal the portion of the law linking the gas tax to inflation, and Patrick has urged voters to reject that referendum.</div>
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"One of the great failings in politics is the failure to connect up what it is you pay in taxes to what it is you say you want from government, and people are nervous about that. Political people, elected officials are nervous about having a conversation about taxes," Patrick said.</div>
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Opponents of the indexing law say the legislation absolves lawmakers of their proper responsibility to vote on future increases in the gas tax.</div>
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Rep. James Cantwell, of Marshfield, is one of the Democrats who has attracted the attention of a political action group specifically targeting pols on the basis of their support or opposition to gas-tax indexing. Cantwell voted against an initial version of the bill and voted to remove the indexing language, but supported the final version and joined his colleagues in overriding Patrick's veto.</div>
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On Wednesday TankTheGasTax.Net PAC endorsed Cantwell's opponent Jim Pavlik and the group has accused Cantwell of "attempting to mislead" voters and said he "failed to stand up for the taxpayers."</div>
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While Patrick said the vote to raise the gas tax for the first time in 23 years and link future increases to inflation was a "really good idea and a courageous vote by the Legislature," in 2013 Patrick vetoed the tax law, writing that the bill was "not good enough." The House and Senate overrode the veto by votes of 123-33 and 35-5.</div>
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On Wednesday, Patrick said he still favored his approach but was more complimentary toward lawmakers.</div>
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"Don't get me wrong, I asked for more, a lot more. And I asked for it because I think the people of the commonwealth want a lot more, but it was a big lift. Everybody knew that," Patrick said. "There's no doubt that any tax vote by the Legislature is brave. It's hard to do. It's politically risky. But doing the right thing is always the right thing."</div>
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The expanded gaming law, signed by Patrick in November 2011, was also borne out of a dispute between the legislative and executive branches that jettisoned a prior version of the bill in 2010. Question 3 would repeal the casino and slots parlor gambling that was legalized under the law.</div>
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Asked if he would help the casino industry that is funding the effort to defeat Question 3, Patrick said, "I think my views are very well known. I don't think casinos are the be-all or end-all or a centerpiece of our economic growth strategy. I've said many, many times that a modest expansion of gaming that allows for a few destination resorts and allows for local communities to decide whether it's right in their own community is a good way to go."</div>
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A repeal of the casino law would undo the statutory support for licenses awarded to Wynn Resorts in Everett, MGM in Springfield and a slots license for Penn National in Plainville.</div>
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The third casino license in southeastern Massachusetts has not yet been awarded.</div>
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Patrick, who is leaving office in January, signed legislation in June that would increase the minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017 and put to rest an effort to pass similar minimum wage legislation through the ballot referendum process. Patrick supports Question 4, which would mandate earned sick time for employees, including paid sick leave at larger companies.</div>
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Earned sick time bills failed to pass the Legislature, where Democrats have overwhelming majorities in both branches. Martha Coakley, the Democrat seeking to succeed Patrick, has used her support for Question 4 as a wedge with Charlie Baker, a Republican and her chief rival in the governor's race. Baker supports a more limited earned sick time requirement.</div>
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Voters have proven to be pliable in polls about expanding the bottle bill, bending from supporting the bill by a decent margin over the summer to opposing the measure by a similar margin this fall. Patrick, who has annually filed legislation to expand the bottle bill, recently recounted that a former colleague in the soda business told him the legislation was a "loser" because the bottling industry would outspend supporters of the expansion.<br />The spending dynamic has been lopsidedly opposed to Question 2, with supermarkets and the bottling industry outspending the environmentalist groups aligned in favor of the legislation more than ten-fold this year, through September.</div>
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"They're going to spend a lot of money, but I've been outspent in campaigns before, and I trust the people of the commonwealth to make a wise decision, and I think a wise decision is in favor of expansion of the bottle bill," Patrick said. He said, "I think logic and right is on the side of rejecting the repeal measure in the gas tax, expanding earned sick time, retaining the casino bill we have."</div>
Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-66834879420273436912014-10-20T20:41:00.002-04:002014-10-20T20:41:46.565-04:00EC 10/9: Bottling Up The Bottle Bill<i>From The Boston Globe, 10/9/2014</i><img alt="
" data-fullsrc="//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_960w/Boston/2011-2020/2014/10/09/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Images/1012web.jpg" src="http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_960w/Boston/2011-2020/2014/10/09/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Images/1012web.jpg" />Acontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07428636297980813805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-73461733166908623002014-07-29T15:43:00.001-04:002014-07-29T15:43:23.407-04:00Bottle Bill Campaign Heats Up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">July 25, 2014</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">State House News Service</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Advocates hoping to expand the state’s bottle redemption law are gearing up
efforts to convince voters in November to pass a ballot initiative that would
put a 5 cent deposit on juice, sports drinks and water bottles. Carl Nilsson
was recently hired as campaign coordinator and Clare Kelly was hired as
campaign manager, according to an official from Mass Audubon, which is part of
the coalition of environmental groups backing ballot Question 2. Nilsson, who
launched his own consulting firm in May, was the field director for Sen. Ed
Markey’s 2013 U.S. Senate campaign. Nilsson also worked as state director in
President Obama’s reelection campaign. Kelly, of Boston, served as field
director for Gov. Deval Patrick’s 2010 re-election campaign, and more recently
as executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. She also ran
At-Large Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo’s 2013 campaign. As the Legislature
opted not to pass legislation expanding the bottle redemption deposit to other
drinks besides soda and beer, advocates formed a grass-roots campaign, which
includes representatives from Mass Audubon, MassPIRG, the Sierra Club, the
Environmental League of Massachusetts and the League of Women Voters. “The
failure of the Legislature over the last 20 years and the positive polling,
give us confidence that the voters of Massachusetts will support Question 2 on
November 4,” Jack Clarke, director of public policy and government relations,
at Mass Audubon told the News Service Tuesday. Advocates say the bottle bill,
implemented in 1983 when bottled water and sports drinks were not as widely
consumed, does not reflect current consumer habits. Opponents argue for
expanding curbside recycling programs and say expanding the law will add costs
for consumers and retailers. - C. Quinn/SHNS</span></div>
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Phil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-11983661472150881002014-07-02T16:33:00.001-04:002014-07-02T16:33:06.740-04:00Updated Bottle Bill Heads to November Ballot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Press Release </b></div>
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Today, a large group gathered on the steps of the Secretary of State’s office to announce completion of an initiative petition signature drive to update the state’s bottle bill. Proponents delivered over 19,000 signatures Wednesday to Secretary Galvin’s office. Once the signatures are validated by Secretary Galvin, the measure is certified to appear before the voters on November 4. If passed, the ballot question would extend the current nickel deposit on soda and beer to other single serving containers like water, juices, and sports drinks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“This is common sense policy that updates a tremendously effective law,” said Rep. Jon Hecht, (D-Watertown) the lead sponsor, along with Sen. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), of the measure in the Legislature.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The people of Massachusetts have spoken loud and clear, over a number of years, that they want less litter<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> and more recycling; they want the Updated Bottle Bill. In the World Cup of legislation, our elected officials let this goal go right through their legs. We did our best to work through Beacon Hill, now it’s up to the voters, “said Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An update to the bottle bill has been pending in the state legislature for over 12 years; the original version passed in 1983, before the popularity of bottled water and tea. Although enough legislators support the update to make it law, it has never been brought to a vote in the House, despite passing the Senate during the last two legislative sessions. Opponents to the bill have largely been big business interests include bottlers, supermarkets.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Diverse groups across the state have gathered the needed signatures to put the measure before the voters -- over 130,000 signatures in September, nearly double the number needed, and more than the other proposed ballot measures. Signatures came from every one of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, and hundreds of volunteers participated. In May, of this year, supporters gathered 27,000 more signatures.</div>
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<b><i>Among the organizations collecting signatures were MASSPIRG, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Milton Garden Club, the Environmental League of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Sierra Club.<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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Advocates are bracing for a tough ballot question campaign. Under state law, bottlers and supermarkets can pour unlimited corporate funds into opposing the ballot initiative.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We’d rather see the bottlers and supermarkets do more to promote recycling, but if they decide to spend millions to defeat this recycling initiative, our volunteers are ready to get the word out to voters,” said Phil Sego of the Massachusetts Sierra Club.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i>Over 100 organizations, 209 cities and towns, the past two Republican and Democratic Governors, and 400 small businesses have endorsed updating the bottle bill.</i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Most single serving beverages are consumed on the go, out of the reach of curbside programs. This explains why deposit soda is recycled at 80%, almost quadruple the 23% recycling rate of water bottles,” said Susan Collins, President of the Container Recycling Institute. “Updating the bottle bill is a smart idea.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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"Expanding the bottle bill will go a long way toward cleaning up our streets and parks, and will help keep the costs of municipal trash collection down by removing beverage containers from the waste stream," said Anne Borg, co-president, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Despite strong public support, big business will invest millions of dollars in this campaign to avoid responsibility for the trash they create,” said George Bachrach, President of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “This will be an uphill ‘David v. Goliath’ fight -- Mass citizens v. Corporate America.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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If the bottle bill wins in November, Massachusetts would catch up with Maine, Connecticut, New York, Hawaii, California, and Oregon, all of which have added more types of containers to their deposit laws over the past several years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Phil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-43613282744792744692014-05-23T08:59:00.003-04:002014-05-23T08:59:48.138-04:00State Senate Passes Bottle Bill Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>State Senate Passes Bottle Bill Update</b></h2>
<b>House action uncertain, ballot effort continues</b><br />
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<i>Press Release</i><br />
<i>May 22, 2014</i><br />
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After favorable words from both a Democratic and a Republican Senator, the State Senate yesterday approved a measure that would update the state’s nickel deposit, known as the bottle bill, to include non-carbonated beverages like water and sports drinks. The law currently covers only soda and beer. The update was passed as an amendment to the state budget late last night.<br />
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An update to the bottle bill has been pending in the state legislature for over 12 years. Over the past two years, the state senate has repeatedly voted in favor of an update, but the House has blocked the measure, preventing the bill from being brought up for a vote. With over half of state legislators having gone on record to pass the update, advocates are confident that it would pass the House as easily as it passed the Senate, if a vote was taken.<br />
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“Every poll shows that over three-quarters of the public support updating the bottle bill,” said Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG. “I think our coalition has demonstrated that the only thing more popular with Massachusetts voters than the Updated Bottle Bill is motherhood and apple pie.”<br />
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After lobbying for a decade on Beacon Hill, advocates for updating the deposit system have been gathering signatures to place the measure on the 2014 ballot. In September, they gathered over 130,000 signatures, nearly double the number needed, and more than the other proposed ballot measures.They are now gathering 20,000 more, as the last hurdle in placing the measure on the November ballot. Among the scores of groups and organizations collecting signatures are the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Arborway Coalition, the West Boylston Solid Waste Action Team, the Environmental League of MA, the Massachusetts Sierra Club, and MASSPIRG.<br />
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“Public support for an update to the bottle bill is huge, and has been building every year,” said Anne Borg, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. “People are truly tired of the waste and the litter.”<br />
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If the House also passes the amendment, and it’s signed into law, Massachusetts would catch up with Maine, Connecticut, and New York, all of which added more types of containers to their deposit laws over the past several years. Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Marty Walsh, and the Mass. Municipal Association are among the longtime supporters of this measure. Advocates have pointed to the benefits of an updated bill, such as increased recycling, less litter, and an increase in “green” jobs. Soda bottles are recycled at nearly four times the rate of water bottles, and water bottles are nine times more likely to end up as litter.<br />
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“It’s high time to update the Bottle Bill,” said Phil Sego of the Sierra Club. “We’ve been pushing for this update for a long time, but the bottlers and big business lobbyists have been pushing back. We hope that the House will adopt this amendment. But if not, it will be on the November ballot.”<br />
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Phil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-55234436622516959882014-05-14T19:53:00.003-04:002014-05-14T19:53:58.684-04:007 Reasons to Update the Bottle Bill (Updated)<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Each year, about 1 billion non-deposit beverage containers are littered or thrown out in Massachusetts. That’s enough to fill Fenway Park to overflowing!<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__ednref1" style="color: #222222;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">[1]</span></a> An expanded bottle bill would help keep our public spaces beautiful and our wildlife safe and protected, as states with a bottle bill have seen a reduction in beverage container litter between 70% and 84%.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">[2]</span></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Decrease landfill use</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">While beverage containers make up only 5.4% of solid waste in Massachusetts by weight, they compose 15.2% of the Massachusetts waste stream by volume.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__ednref6" style="color: #222222;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn6" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">[3]</span></a>Most of these beverage containers are made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which never decomposes. Massachusetts is already running out of landfill space, and we currently export more than a million tons of trash to other<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__ednref10" style="color: #222222;"> states and countries each year</a>. An expanded Bottle Bill would significantly reduce the volume of waste filling up our crowded landfills.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Increase recycling</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Bottle Bill couples with curbside recycling programs to achieve a high recycling rate for deposit containers. While curbside recycling is useful for beverages consumed at home, the Bottle Bill improves recycling for beverages consumed on-the-go and works 3-4 times better in capturing bottles than the curbside program alone, making it a perfect companion to curbside recycling.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Create green jobs</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The creation of a bottle redemption system in many states has led t<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__ednref14" style="color: #222222;">o significant net job increase</a>. In 2010, Massachusetts’ payroll for the recycling industry was $498 million and included 13,905 jobs<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__ednref16" style="color: #222222;">, </a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn16" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">[4]</span></a> and a 2012 report estimates that updating the Massachusetts Bottle Bill would cause a net gain of over a thousand jobs in the commonwealth.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Conserve resources</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The current bottle bill diverts approximately 150 thousand TONS of material from Massachusetts dumps and incinerators each year, saving energy and resources. The deposit system has recovered an estimated 2 million TONS of aluminum, glass and plastic containers since its inception in 1983, saving an estimated 13 million barrels of crude oil equivalent, and has reduced greenhouse gas emissions exponentially.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Save public funds</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Bottle Bill shifts responsibility for dealing with the waste from bottled beverages off of taxpayers and communities and onto the producers and consumers of the beverages. Under the updated Bottle Bill, bottlers and beverage distributors would pay a small cost per container. Since this small cost would cut into bottlers’ profits, they are the largest opponents of an update to the Bottle Bill.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reestablish the Clean Environment Fund (which supports environmental programs in the Commonwealth)</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Under the updated Bottle Bill, all unclaimed deposits would go into the reestablished Clean Environment Fund to support environmental programs throughout the commonwealth, helping pick up litter, maintaining our parks, and cleaning our lakes and rivers. It is estimated that the government would receive about $20 million each year through additional unclaimed deposits with an expanded Bottle Bill.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__ednref22" style="color: #222222;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn22" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">[5]</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__edn1"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">[1]</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> Massachusetts Sierra Club, 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">[2]</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">“Litter Studies in Bottle Bill States”, Container Recycling Institute. <a href="http://www.bottlebill.org/about/benefits/litter/bbstates.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.bottlebill.org/<wbr></wbr>about/benefits/litter/<wbr></wbr>bbstates.htm</a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__edn6"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref6" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">[3]</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> “Analysis of Beverage Containers Within the Massachusetts Municipal Solid Waste Stream”, report prepared by the Massachusetts Sierra Club from Massachusetts DEP studies, 2012.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__edn14"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">[4]</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> “Bottle Bills Create Jobs”, Container Recycling Institute. <a href="http://www.bottlebill.org/about/benefits/jobs.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.bottlebill.org/<wbr></wbr>about/benefits/jobs.htm</a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="145f69d4003e77ec__edn22"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref22" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: #de7008; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">[5]</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"> Sean Sylver, Massachusetts DEP, 2013. Expanding the Bottle Bill would add 1.5 billion beverage containers to the number of deposit containers sold each year. 27.3% of these containers would not be redeemed, giving the state $0.05 per unredeemed container.</span></div>
Samantha Pepehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07137795380986446187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-8263588225233219412014-05-07T07:51:00.000-04:002014-05-07T07:51:24.497-04:007 Reasons to Update the Bottle Bill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Decrease litter
found on roads and in parks</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Each year, about 1.4 billion
containers are littered or thrown out in Massachusetts. That’s enough to fill
Fenway Park to overflowing!<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
About 1 billion of these 1.4 billion containers are non-deposit beverage
containers.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In
Massachusetts, non-deposit bottles are about four times as likely as deposit
bottles to be found as litter,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
and they are about nine times as likely as deposit bottles to be littered in
our waterways,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> where
they are a serious threat to marine life. States that have bottle bills have
seen a reduction in beverage container litter between 70% and 84% and a
reduction in total litter between 34% and 47%.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> An
expanded bottle bill would help keep our public spaces beautiful and our
wildlife safe and protected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Decrease landfill
use<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">While beverage containers
make up only 5.4% of solid waste in Massachusetts by weight, they compose 15.2%
of the Massachusetts waste stream by volume.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Most of these beverage containers are made of PET. In 2012, 3.87 billion pounds
of PET bottles were thrown out as waste in the United States, and many of these
bottles ended up in landfills.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
These PET bottles take up a disproportionate amount of Massachusetts landfill
space, using 9.8 cubic yards per ton compared to 2.75 cubic yards for “average
landfill materials”,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> and they
never decompose.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Massachusetts is already running out of landfill space, and we currently export
more than 1.1 million tons of trash to other states and countries each year.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
An expanded Bottle Bill would significantly reduce the volume of waste filling
up our crowded landfills. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Increase recycling
<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The Bottle Bill couples with
curbside recycling programs to achieve a high recycling rate for deposit
containers. While curbside recycling is useful for beverages consumed at home,
the Bottle Bill improves recycling for beverages consumed on-the-go and in
areas where curbside recycling is unfeasible, like inner cities, rural areas,
and public places. Almost 70% of deposit beverage containers are redeemed each
year under the Bottle Bill,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
adding to the 9-10% of containers recovered through curbside recycling.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Overall, deposit containers are recycled at a rate of about 80%, while
non-deposit containers are recycled at only 23%.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The
Bottle Bill works 3-4 times better in capturing bottles than the curbside
program alone, making it a perfect companion to curbside recycling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Create green jobs<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The creation of a bottle
redemption system in many states, including Michigan, California, Maine, and
New York, has led to significant net job increases.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
For every 100 jobs gained in recycling, only about 13 are lost in waste
disposal and the extraction of new materials.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn15" name="_ednref15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In 2010, Massachusetts’ payroll for the recycling industry was $498 million and
included 13,905 jobs,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn16" name="_ednref16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
and a 2012 report estimates that updating the Massachusetts Bottle Bill would
cause a net gain of 1,500 jobs in the commonwealth.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn17" name="_ednref17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In particular, expanding the Bottle Bill would provide employment at the 150
redemption centers across the state.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn18" name="_ednref18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Conserve resources<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The vast majority of the
containers that would be covered under the update are made of PET Plastic, or <i>polyethylene
terephthalate, </i>which is made of 99% petroleum. Consumers like PET because
it’s lightweight, shatter-resistant, and re-sealable. Recycled PET plastic is
primarily used for carpeting, upholstery, and Polartec-type fleece products –
which are made right here in Lawrence, Lowell, Cummington, Waltham, North
Attleboro, and Westport. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The current bottle bill
diverts approximately 150 thousand TONS of material from Massachusetts dumps
and incinerators each year, saving energy and resources. The deposit system has
recovered an estimated 2 million TONS of aluminum, glass and plastic containers
since its inception in 1983, saving an estimated 13 million barrels of crude
oil equivalent, and has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2 million tons.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn19" name="_ednref19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
It has also prevented countless of bottles and cans from being littered on the
state’s roads and highways, parks and beaches.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn20" name="_ednref20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Save public funds<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The Bottle Bill shifts
responsibility for dealing with the waste from bottled beverages off of
taxpayers and communities and onto the producers and consumers of the
beverages. Under the updated Bottle Bill, bottlers and beverage distributors
would pay an average net cost of about 1.5 cents per container.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn21" name="_ednref21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Since this small cost would cut into bottlers’ profits, they are the largest
opponents of an update to the Bottle Bill. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Reestablish the
Clean Environment Fund (which supports environmental programs in the
Commonwealth)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Under the updated Bottle
Bill, all unclaimed deposits would go into the reestablished Clean Environment
Fund to support environmental programs throughout the commonwealth, helping pick
up litter, maintaining our parks, and cleaning our lakes and rivers. It is estimated that the government would
receive about $20 million each year through additional unclaimed deposits with
an expanded Bottle Bill.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_edn22" name="_ednref22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Massachusetts Sierra Club, 2014. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Massachusetts Sierra Club, 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Beverage Containers in Litter and Public Area Waste
Receptacles”, report prepared for Massachusetts DEP by Recycling and Resource
Management Consulting, Newton, MA, 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Environmental
Law Enforcement survey, conducted at Charles River Cleanup, 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Litter Studies in Bottle Bill States”, Container
Recycling Institute.
http://www.bottlebill.org/about/benefits/litter/bbstates.htm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Analysis of Beverage Containers Within the
Massachusetts Municipal Solid Waste Stream”, report prepared by the
Massachusetts Sierra Club from Massachusetts DEP studies, 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Report on Postconsumer PET Container Recycling
Activity in 2012”, National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR),
2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> EPA Landfill Waste and Geotechnical Stability Report,
BEAR, 2003.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> NAPCOR<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Massachusetts 2010-2020 Solid Waste Master Plan:
Pathway to Zero Waste”, Massachusetts DEP, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref11" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Sean Sylver, Massachusetts DEP, 2013. Reported
redemption rate is the average of deposit container redemption rates from
2009-2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref12" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Executive Summary: Understanding Beverage Container
Recovery”, BEAR, 2002.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref13" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Container Recycling Institute, 2013. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref14" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Bottle Bills Create Jobs”, Container Recycling
Institute. http://www.bottlebill.org/about/benefits/jobs.htm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref15" name="_edn15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Puzzled About Recycling’s Value? Look Beyond the
Bin”, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1998. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref16" name="_edn16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Recycling Economic Information Study Update:
Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania”, report prepared
for Northeast Recycling Council by DSM Environmental, 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn17">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref17" name="_edn17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “The Impact of the Bottle Bill Update on Jobs in the
Economy”, Sierra Club and MASSPIRG, 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn18">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref18" name="_edn18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> “Registered Redemption Centers in Massachusetts”,
Massachusetts DEP, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn19">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref19" name="_edn19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Container Recycling Institute, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn20">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref20" name="_edn20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Container Recycling Institute, Jenny Gitlitz, October
25, 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn21">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref21" name="_edn21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Massachusetts Sierra Club, 2014. Handling fees, the
amount paid to deals and redemption centers to process empty containers, would
be about $75.1M. The amount received as scrap value from these returns is
estimated at about $24.7M, so the net expense to bottlers is $50.4M. About 3.3
billion beverage containers are sold each year, so the net average cost per
container is about 1.5 cents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn22">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7716982386401931221#_ednref22" name="_edn22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> Sean Sylver, Massachusetts DEP, 2013. Expanding the
Bottle Bill would add 1.5 billion beverage containers to the number of deposit
containers sold each year. 27.3% of these containers would not be redeemed,
giving the state $0.05 per unredeemed container.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Phil Segohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08687097775237026012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7716982386401931221.post-25410386979789331692014-03-11T14:30:00.000-04:002014-03-11T14:30:01.472-04:00"Bridging the Divide" over the Bottle Bill Ballot Initiative<br />
<br />
<br />
<img _src="http://www.statehousenews.com/public/logo.gif" src="http://www.statehousenews.com/public/logo.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" /><br />
<br />
<span lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">BOTTLE BILL OPPONENT EYES “CONSENSUS” ON BALLOT ALTERNATIVE </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
By Andy Metzger</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, MARCH 6, 2014…..An opponent of the proposal to
expand the bottle bill said Thursday he prefers trying to hammer out a
consensus alternative to the initiative petition heading towards the
November ballot. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
House Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Chairman
John Keenan, a Salem Democrat who has announced he will not run for
re-election this year, said bridging the divide over the perennial issue
is something he hopes to accomplish this year.
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“I don’t know what the over-under is on this ballot initiative. But I
will echo Representative Peake, as well. I think the petition process,
the ballot initiative is a very sloppy way to do legislation,” Keenan
said at a hearing on the initiative petition Thursday.
He said, “I would much prefer to work together with you folks and folks
on the other side to hammer out some sort of bill that has a consensus.”</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Rep. Sarah Peake, a proponent of expanding the bottle bill so there are
deposits on more than just beer and carbonated beverages, described the
referendum heading toward the November ballot as “more draconian” than
what the Legislature could produce. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“I’m concerned about beer bottlers. I’m concerned about the juice
industry, but if we let this go to the ballot, those concerns go into
the wind,” Peake said. She said, “Let’s see if we can do what we’re
elected to do as legislators.”</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Opponents of expanding the deposit law have backed an alternative (H
2513/ S 379) filed by Sen. Michael Moore, a Millbury Democrat, and Rep.
John Binienda, a Worcester Democrat, that would phase out the 5-cent
deposit on cans and bottles, replacing it with
a 1-cent fee paid by distributors and bottlers, funding recycling
initiatives. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
The scope of the bottle redemption law has been a perennial issue on
Beacon Hill, as supporters of expansion say it will reduce litter by
closing a nonsensical exemption for water, iced tea and juice bottles.
Opponents say bottle deposits are an outdated and
inefficient method to boost recycling, and one that burdens retailers
with collecting the old bottles. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“What other retail business needs to take back its customers garbage on
the selling floor?” asked Bob Selby, owner of Kappy’s liquor stores in
Peabody and Danvers. He told the News Service, “We get snakes; we get
syringes; we get used condoms.” </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke, whose city has a “pay as you throw” trash
pickup and “single stream” recycling, said cigarette butts and lottery
tickets make up the majority of the trash he sees and a bottle bill
expansion will only drive more people north of the
border, to New Hampshire, to shop. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Bottle bill proponents say curbside pickup is only one aspect of
preventing litter and boosting recycling, and the bill’s expansion is
aimed at beverages people drink on-the-go, which is why liquor and wine
are exempt. They argue the 5-cent deposit will create
a financial incentive to recycle those bottles. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Peake said she’d spoken to a member of a dune buggy association, who
participated in a beach cleanup and said 99 percent of the trash they
picked up was abandoned water bottles. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“Beer and going to the beach go together like peanut butter and jelly, but they were not picking up beer cans,” Peake said. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Though a bottle bill expansion cleared the Senate on a voice vote last
session, it has never passed the House and never gone to a recorded
vote. Keenan has previously voted against the measure. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“This is my last term, and this is probably one of the unfinished pieces
of business that I don’t want to leave behind,” Keenan said. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter lobbyist Phil Sego and MassPIRG
Executive Director Janet Domenitz said the alternative proposed by Moore
and Binienda is not a compromise. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“Senator Moore’s bill has been put out as a quote-unquote alternative,
and it repeals the bottle bill. So if that’s someone’s idea of a
conversation, then we’re not for it,” Domenitz said. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“We’d love to talk. We’ve had no communication from the opponents that
they even want to talk, and we have been saying for – oh gosh – 12
years, ‘Let’s talk,’” Sego told the News Service. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Sego said he has spoken with Keenan a number of times, and said, “He has
not indicated any movement towards a compromise . . . It would be great
to get together with him, people on the other side of the table, other
groups.” </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
Lawmakers are apprehensive about the ballot process, which has been used
in years past as leverage and as legislating, creating both the law
decriminalizing marijuana and establishing legal, medical marijuana. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“We’ve seen what happened with the medical marijuana, where you let that
go to the ballot, and while I supported that concept, I think there
were some issues in how that was implemented,” said Rep. Josh Cutler, a
Duxbury Democrat. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“We are preparing to go to the ballot,” said Sego. He said if a bottle
bill expansion becomes law in time, he believes he and others could
convince the petitioners to withdraw the ballot initiative. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
“Absent some action on our part before late June, early July, this
question will go to the ballot,” said Rep. Jonathan Hecht, a Watertown
Democrat, and the lead sponsor of a separate bill (H 2943) to expand the
bottle deposit law. He said, “We’re all going
to be asked by our voters to take a stand on this issue.”</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
END</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
03/06/2014</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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