Just a few days ago the University of Michigan published a new study examining the declining effectiveness of Michigan’s bottle bill and opportunities for the state to even better protect our incredible environment.
Let’s start with the obvious. Michigan’s environment – our lakes, our rivers, our forests, even our own back yards – couldn’t be more beautiful, more important, or more worth protecting. They’re not just a part of our state’s identity, they’re our way of life.
So, when policymakers and Michigan families noticed that fewer and fewer eligible cans and bottles are being returned, it makes all the sense in the world to ask what’s happening, if and how it’s impacting our environment, and what the next right move might be for the state.
It’s hard not to notice the problems with Michigan’s bottle bill.
According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, redemption rates have fallen from better than 94% down to just 70.4%. We’ve seen an 18% decline since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and shutdown orders that made it impossible for a time to return our containers. Even before the closures, trends had already begun to change.
So, what’s the next right thing to do? There’s no shortage of ideas, though most of them have serious challenges associated with them.
Some have suggested raising the 10-cent deposit, but the report’s authors found the dime remains a strong incentive and “the best benchmark” for returns. None of the 10 states that use a deposit system exceed the dime. Some have suggested expanding the deposit law to include water and juice bottles, but community advocates rightly point out that adding the fee would nearly double the cost of bottled water, with a disastrous impact on low income residents and communities that have experienced water insecurity, like Flint and Benton Harbor.
Local curbside recyclers have serious concerns there, too, because that kind of move would lead to dramatically fewer dollars being invested in community recycling programs.
There’s one solution, though, that might provide a win for everyone – and Michigan’s environment.
Right now, lawmakers are considering House Bill 4825. The bill would invest in the ability and infrastructure of Michigan’s beverage businesses to pick up, clean, sort, and recycle bottles and cans as they work every day to protect our environment.
In the last few years alone, distributors have invested significantly in Bottle Bill infrastructure, including new processing lines at Wixom and Grand Rapids plants, purchasing lower emission semi-trucks to transport recyclables, and moving to smaller ADA-compliant recycling bins.
The companies currently spend more than an estimated $92 million annually to recycle billions of containers on behalf of the state, but here’s the thing – they’re doing it without any reimbursement, and that makes it difficult to expand their efforts.
When Michigan voters initiated the Bottle Bill back in the 1970s, they required these businesses to build the tools needed to pick-up, process, and recycle returned containers. To make that possible, the Bottle Bill reimbursed distributors through unclaimed deposits, and the system worked for 13 years.
Unfortunately, in 1989 the legislature changed the Bottle Bill into an unfunded government mandate. Since 89, none of that money collected by the state through unclaimed deposits is invested in recycling infrastructure or operating expenses forced on distributors.
House Bill 4825 is the first important step towards reinvesting in recycling. The bill provides distributors a tax credit equal to ½ cent per returnable container sold. It’s a small fix with a big impact – reinvesting Bottle Bill dollars into Michigan recycling.
It’s hard to find common ground in Lansing these days. We all agree, though, that Michigan’s environment is worth protecting.
Lawmakers have the opportunity to reinvest in local recycling without a new budget line item, without raising taxpayer costs, and without raising taxes.
We ask the legislature to stand with us and approve House Bill 4825.
