New Yorkers for Real Recycling Reform Decry Budget

ALBANY, NY (01/22/2008)(readMedia)-- Governor Spitzer's budget proposal will raise fees on New York businesses and force consumers to pay more for their groceries and in exchange New Yorkers will get to pay $337 million for an outdated and ineffective program that will have virtually no impact on the environment or litter cleanup.

Governor Spitzer's proposal to expand the bottle deposit law to include nearly all of the items in a store's beverage aisle will come at a huge cost to consumers and severely damage New York State's economy. Northbridge Environmental Consultants has determined that if bottle deposits are expanded to cover additional beverages such as children's juice drinks, athletic drinks, bottles waters and iced tea, the average increase in price for bottle and can sold in stores will be $0.15 (including the $.05 deposit).

As a result of Governor Spitzer's bottle tax, the cost, for example, of a case of 24 bottles of water that now sells for $4.99 will cost $8.59 - a whopping 72% increase.

"Governor Spitzer promised no new taxes and no new fees and now he's going back in that pledge," said James Rogers, president and CEO of the Food Industry Alliance of New York State. "This scheme is just about raising money, not the environment."

"Expanding the bottle law will be a job killer for New York State and comes at the worst possible time," said Joseph Wojciechowski, president of Teamsters Local 812, vice president of the National Soft Drink and Brewry Conference and vice president of the New York City Central Labor Council. "We should focus our efforts on improving recycling while lowering costs and creating jobs."

The current bottle deposit law captures and recycles soda and beer bottles and cans, but ignores about 98 percent of the materials going into our landfills. The expansion proposed by Governor Spitzer will only capture another two-tenths of one percent of the waste stream.

"Expanding the deposit law is simply about raising money for the State off of our grocery bills," said Rogers. "Our coalition supports real recycling reforms which will make recycling more convenient, more effective and less costly. It just makes sense that if we make recycling easier by utilizing our already successful curbside and residential programs -- rather than forcing New Yorkers to haul more dirty bottles and cans back to food stores -- more people will participate. And, that's what a recycling program really should be about."

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New Yorkers for Real Recycling Reform is a coalition of New York businesses, labor unions and retailers, who believe that New York should look to comprehensive solutions — Real Recycling Reform — and not an outdated, ineffective and costly idea like bottle law expansion.