The Michigan United Conservation Clubs is trying to expand the state’s 1976 bottle deposit law to include water bottles and other non-carbonated drinks by the end of the month.
The MUCC wants to have a 10-cent deposit on water bottles because more than 1.1 billion water bottles were thrown away in Michigan in 2005, according to the Container Recycling Institute.
Dennis Muchmore, MUCC executive director, said the residents of Michigan recycle 20 percent of water bottles, compared to the 97 percent of pop and beer containers that are recycled.
“We want to pass an amendment to a bill that has already been introduced,” said Donna Stine, MUCC deputy director for policy. “We’re asking the legislators to assess water and other non-carbonated drinks to be added to the bill.”
Several states have passed or considered the expansion to the bill, including New York, which added water bottles to its deposit law earlier this year, according to The Associated Press. Michigan has the highest deposit in the country on pop and beer containers.
“It’s important because the original bottle law covered beer and soda and now water and non-carbonated drinks, the most prominent drinks,” Stine said. “It’s important to make the bottle law, which Michigan residents love, up-to-date.”
Grocery stores have successfully lobbied against expanding the bottle law, so prospects for the legislation are uncertain, according to the AP.
Jessi Singh, manager of Gene’s Quik Shop, 3127 Turner St. in Lansing, said he opposes the water bottle deposit.
“It’s more pain, more headache and more time consuming,” he said. “Economically it’s not feasible.”
Singh said the water bottle deposit would cause him to hire more workers and buy more recycling bags, which aren’t cheap. He said these are just some of the reasons he opposes the bill.
Corrinne Thomas, a physiology senior and co-president of MSU Eco, said she is happy about the idea of having a water bottle deposit.
“If you put a deposit on water bottles it will give regular citizens the incentive to do the eco-friendly thing,” she said.
Eco is a student organization that focuses on sustainability issues like recycling and climate change, Thomas said.
“I think people don’t understand even though they buy disposable water bottles, it’s a huge amount of waste,” she said. “By having a deposit on (water bottles) it will help eliminate some of that waste.”
Thomas said bottled water may be popular, but too much plastic is being thrown away.
The bill will hopefully encourage MSU students to switch to tap water or a reusable water bottle to reduce their use of plastic.
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