Mar 15 - Oregon Legislators Consider Bottle Bill Changes

With Oregon's rigid plastic container rate expected to fall short of the 25% rate specified by law for a second year in a row, businesses and environmentalists alike are pondering changes to the bill. Businesses are worried about fines that come into affect if the rate remains below 25% and environmentalists would like to see greater incentives for recycling. Mike Verespej of Plastics News writes that the dip in recyclingâ€"a national problemâ€"is largely due to the proliferation of plastic water bottles:

"Data compiled by the Washington-based Container Recycling institute showed the number of plastic water bottles sold in 2005â€"29 billionâ€"exceeded the number of soft drink bottles sold and the recycling rate for water bottles was less than 15 percent, compared with 33 percent for soft drink bottles."

There are four bills currently competing with each other in Salem to amend Oregon's Bottle Bill law.