CGA Environment Committee

February 28, 2007 Public Hearing

Support for SB No. 1289 AAC The Expansion Of The Beverage Container Redemption Provisions

Support for Electronics Recycling

Testimony by Cheryl Dunson, Public Issues Vice President

The League of Women Voters of Connecticut, comprised of over 2400 members, strongly supports policies to promote the re-use and recycling of solid waste.   Indeed, the League of Women Voters of Connecticut was among the organizations that worked in coalition to pass Connecticut’s current “bottle law” and for the mandatory recycling law. 

The League views SB 1289 as an effective method to promote recycling of solid waste by expanding the redemption program. SB 1289 is consistent with the Department of Environmental Protection’s newly-amended December 2006 State Solid Waste Management Plan that calls for reducing the amount of waste generated - in part by dramatically increasing the target recycling rate from 30% to 58%.

However the success of this excellent plan will depend upon the effectiveness of its implementation. If the plan consistently guides policies and public and private actions, our state will more likely achieve its goals. If the plan is ignored and gathers dust, we get less than intended, or worse, what we did not want. As noted in the Plan “… if waste reduction and recycling efforts are not reinvigorated and if more waste is not diverted from disposal, Connecticut will face an increasing need for disposal capacity at a time when available land is in shorter supply, construction and operating costs are higher, and the public is less willing to accept additional waste disposal facilities.”[1]

The League wholeheartedly supports the expansion of the beverage container redemption to include water and other non-carbonated nonalcoholic drinks and the increase of the deposit to 10 cents. The current beverage container redemption rates of approximately 65-70% demonstrate that Connecticut’s long-standing user-funded program is effective and equitable, i.e., only those that use the designated products are subject to the program.

The League would also like to go on record as supporting the establishment of a recycling program for electronics. Not long ago, it was reported that a private equity firm invested $50 million dollars in a Texas company that recycles computers.[2] The article quotes one of the investors as saying that consumer electronics recycling is a $1.5 billion dollar industry that is growing 45% annually. Gartner Inc predicts that by 2010 more than 925 million computers worldwide will need to be replaced. Filled with toxic materials such as lead and mercury, these products pose a genuine threat to public health and the environment if not disposed of properly. Having said that, however, the League will defer to the judgment of this committee as to which electronics recycling proposal should be established within our state.

The League believes that these proposals represent worthy efforts to broaden the recycling program. The League urges this Committee to support SB 1289 and establish some type of electronics recycling program as part of a larger plan to help reduce the amount of waste in our State.

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