Proposed bill would establish deposit, refund on bottles and cans

By Cy Ryan

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.

CARSON CITY — Nevada’s recycling record is a “pretty dismal” 24 percent, says state Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, who wants to push it to higher than 80 percent.

Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, has introduced a bill to require a 5-cent deposit and refund on bottles, cans and other containers of beer, soft drinks, mineral water and other beverages.

He told the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining on Tuesday that enactment of the bill would go a long way toward cleaning up roads, parks and recreational areas.

But his bill, AB 427, ran into opposition from representatives of the Nevada Retail Association, the California-Nevada Soft Drink Association and the MillerCoors beer company.

But Ohrenschall, who has gained support from the Friends of Red Rock Canyon, Nevada Farm Bureau, the Sierra Club and the Nevada Conservation League, said 10 other states and Guam have deposit-refund programs, and they have not hurt sales.

Pat Williams, former president of the Friends of Red Rock Canyon, said trash containers are overflowing, and AB427 would eliminate a large part of the problem. “People want their nickel back,” she told the committee.

Lea Tauchen of the Retail Association testified that the program would be burdensome to business. She said merchants would have to retool their cash registers, retrain employees and possibly buy vending machines to accept the returned bottles, cans, plastic bottles, jars and cartons.

Many businesses are now operating on a slim margin, and there’s also the issue of how the containers would be stored. Tauchen said many stores don’t have space for the containers and would have to rent an area.

Exempt from participating in the program would be casinos, saloons, restaurants and resorts that have their own recycling programs.

The bill would require the merchant selling the beverage to collect the nickel and then give the refund. But Ohrenschall said there could be recycling centers set up where the containers could be returned.

Many of the committee members said that when they were youngsters, they would collect and return bottles and cans to earn money.

Colleen Cripps, administrator of the state Division of Environmental Protection, said the state’s recycling rate was below 25 percent. In Clark County, the rate was 20 percent and in Washoe County, 32 percent.

Committee Chairwoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, formed a subcommittee to work with opponents to determine how the program works in other states and to find the easiest way to fashion the plan for Nevada. She said her research showed there wasn’t much difference in states that impose the deposit-refund program.

In other states, 20 to 30 percent of those who purchase beverages don’t return for a refund. In those cases, the merchant gets to keep a penny and the remaining four cents goes to the state.

There was testimony that California, which has a 5-cent deposit-redeem program, has a $120 million balance accumulated from unclaimed refunds.

Any money received by Nevada from the program would be used to promote recycling.