Why doesn't New Hampshire Redeem Bottles?

I pick up bottles and cans when I have time. I redeem the ones that are redeemable. It doesn't amount to much but it is nice to get something back for my efforts. In neighboring states New york, Massachusetts and Main, A person can get a redemption for recycling soda bottles and cans. But not in New Hampshire.

Sometimes when I pick up a bottle or can expecting to be able to redeem it, I find something like this. It is a little discouraging. It's not about the money, What is five cents anyways? I couldn't figure out why some Pepsi bottles had no label for redemption. Then I realized, these cans must have been soled in New Hampshire because they can't be sold with no label for redemption in Vermont. These products are bought in New Hampshire and tossed on our soil.

So why doesn't New Hampshire have Container Deposit Legislation? There have been several attempts to pass a bottle bill in New Hampshire but none have been successful. The latest attempt at a bottle bill in New Hampshire was in 2010.

In an article on the Bottle Bill resource Guide We find out why it has failed.

John Dumais, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Grocer's Association, said his group has been fighting bottling legislation for more than 25 years.

They have pushed the idea that there is a better way to recycle. But their way of recycling doesn't address litter, which not only clutters New Hampshire but ends up on the road side of neighboring states.

Can you guess which one of these cans is not from New Hampshire?

Why From River to Gyre?

So what is this Blog about anyways? Why From River to Gyre? If you have read some of the other posts on this blog, you have probably figured out that this blog has something to do with the amount of Plastic in the world's oceans, and the negative affect it has on marine wildlife.

So what is From River to Gyre? Plastic. You may have heard of the Plastic that has been found in our oceans. There are many blogs and organizations out there that have been spreading awareness about the issue; 5gyres, The Blue Ocean Society, balloonsblow.org, and Museum Of Litter to name a phew.

What this blog does is try to show the connection between the litter on the side of the road and near river beds and the plastic found in the ocean. It's not just trash from ocean liners and beaches that accumulates in the Gyres. Basically any place that has a river near by that leads to the ocean carry plastic trash to the ocean. As you can see from the map bellow, there are a lot of rivers just in the United States.

The question is, how much plastic flows into the oceans from these major rivers? and how far inland does the plastic come from?
That is what we are trying to find the answer for.

Plastic Places - Newburry Port MA

On August 7th 2012 we went on a river cruise in Newburry Port Massachusetts. The cruise traveled around Newburry Port and up the Merrimack River. Before the cruise we took a walk on the beach and picked up trash along the way. Among the usual balloons, bottles, wrappers and straws, I kept finding these plastic white disks.

I thought, "What are these? I know I have seen them before." Then I remembered I read a blog article on the NH Marine Debris blog about the Hookset New Hampshire Water treatment plant over a year ago.

The article read, "Emergency Beach Cleanup!  Small white circular mesh disks, approximately 2" in diameter, were released into the Merrimack River from the Hooksett, NH Wastewater Treatment Facility following heavy rainstorms .... It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of the disks were released to the Merrimack River - these are now in MA and NH coastal areas and beaches."

Over a year later and these discs are still washing up on New Hampshire and Massachusetts beaches. I found 12 of them on our short walk. The interesting thing is we know where these disks came from. Here is a map of the path the disks took from Hooksett NH.

 

It shows that plastic debris in the ocean can come from pretty far up stream. Those plastic disks had to travel quite a ways down the Merrimack before reaching the ocean. The disks were identifiable, but what other plastic debris comes from Hooksett, or further upstream, in, say Concord? The same question goes for any river. I have captured plastic flowing down the Connecticut River. This study shows a definite connection to roadside litter and debris in the ocean.

People want redeemable bottles

The people want redeemable bottles so what is stopping legislation in Australia? Find out more on Tim Silverwood's Blog Here.

Quick Note: Balloon Releases Blow

Balloon releases are bad for the environment. Please don't release balloons.
This is a really cool website balloonsblow.org The founders have been cleaning beaches for over 15 years. They started this website to open awareness about the environmental impact of balloon releases. Check it out. and take a look at their wall of shame.

Save the Bottle Bill!!

The American Beverage Association has been working hard to terminate the Bottle Bill. With out the Bottle Bill there would be no more 5 cent redemption for soda bottles or beer bottles. 

I grew up in New York where the Bottle Bill has been around for a couple decades. Redeeming bottles was how I payed for lunch at least once a week while I was going to college. The bottle bill in Vermont(the state I live in now) doesn't cover as much as New York currently does, but it is nice to live in a state where bottles can be redeemed.   

The Bottle Bill is the most affective recycling program because it places value on items that would otherwise be discarded. Unfortunately, the Bottle Bill has been under attack since the 1980's. Many states have adopted some form of recycling program, but only 

eleven states have adopted a form of the bottle bill. The last State to adopt the bottle bill was Hawaii in 2002, which happens to be a state surrounded by the ocean. Yes, you guessed it, they must have passed the bill because of all of the plastic that washes up on their beaches. Unfortunately many of the other states don't seam to have the same sense of urgency to the issue of plastic in the ocean.  

The bottle bill is under attack in just about every state. Supporters have to go up against a strong opposition force of lobbyists payed for by the American Beverage Association and other interested parties. In Vermont the American Beverage association is trying to push legislation that would replace the current bottle bill with a state-wide EPA system or zero sort recycling program. 
Maclean, Meheen and Rice(MMR), a Law firm based in Montpelier has put up a web site that promotes the EPA Legislation. It is www.wecandobettervt.com. The propaganda cleverly frames the issue and makes it look like more people support the one tiered state-wide EPA system over a system that incorporates both zero sort recycling and bottle redemption models. At the bottom of the site there is a link that is hardly noticeable, "paid for by MMR". If you fallow the links you find that the American Beverage Association is a client of MMR. Hmmm, how interesting.

Zero sort recycling programs work OK for what they do, (divert household garbage from the dump) but they aren't built to address the issue of Plastic Litter, much of which comes from discarded bottles. If there is no value placed on the item who would bother picking it up, other than paid road crews? 

When a recyclable item is collected separately from rubbish, it produces a higher quality product. There are many items that can only be recycled if they are collected separately; such as print cartridges, cell phones, digital cameras and other electronics. One wouldn't think of replacing one of these redemption programs so why get rid of the bottle bill?
Please Help save the Bottle Bill. Please support the bottle bill in your state.
Thanks

Green Up Day May 5 2012

The first Green Up Day was on April 18, 1970. Green Up Day started in Vermont, but recently other states and countries have been joining in on celebrating Green Up Day. Each year around the first week of May, we fill up as many green garbage bags as we can, with litter. 2012 was our third year joining Vermonters in greening up Vermont.

We had a small group this year. Four Students and three adults, but we did a ton of work. We collected 12 bags of litter, and two bags worth of recyclable material.

There is so much litter out there, it is impossible to pick it all up. The litter that lies close to rivers and streams eventually makes it's way to the ocean. Plastic debris causes a major threat to marine life such as sea turtles sea lions.

Thanks to all of those who participated in cleaning around Riverside this year. It is important that we all do our part in reducing the amount of plastic litter.  Green Up Day is one of Vermont's great traditions, that I am proud to be a part of.

Plastic Places Jacksonville Beach

March 8, 2012,
We traveled to Jacksonville Beach, Florida to pick up the plastic debris brought in by the tide and to document what we saw. The beach was busy with sunbathers and surfers. There were many species of sea birds flying around searching for food. Hidden among the seaweed collected at the high tide line, were several pieces of plastic.

As we walked the high tide line along the beach, I noticed a seagull picking at something. I couldn't tell what it was. I could see it was small and bright green.Was it some kind of larva?



I chased the seagull, as he carried the orderve with him for a while, but he gave up and flew to a new location.







I picked up the green orderve. Just as I suspected. It was a rubbery piece of plastic.








A little further along the beach, I saw a dead seagull. I took a picture of it and kept walking. Later, while reviewing the photos, I noticed that the unlucky seagull was tangled in fishing line. I am not sure if this is what caused it's demise but it is very likely.


It made me think, how much is hidden in plain sight? Out of all the beach goers, how many even noticed the dead seagull, not to mention the fishing line wrapped around it's legs?



How many people noticed the bottle caps and balloons and plastic cups mixed in with the seaweed, or the plastic bags caught in the grass at the edge of the beach? How much do we just not notice?

Plastic Solution Checkpoint: Ditching the Plastic Bag.

It’s somewhat of a mantra among environmentalists that we need to think of the world that we’re leaving to the next generations that will follow us. In the case of plastics this task is especially daunting because the plastic that we use everyday from sandwich bags to cell phones will stick around for over the next 15 generations. Even when it has finally photodegraded to the size of a grain of sand, it remains as plastic. Some plastics release toxins into the soil, air, and water in the process.

This week’s Plastic Solution Checkpoint: Ditching the plastic bags.

Many of us have seen the clever marketing and new growth in reusable shopping bags. They come in a variety of materials (even making use of recycled plastic) and a variety of prices. One thing they all do though is help rid us of some of the most annoying plastic offenders – disposable plastic shopping bags.

According to one New York Times article as of 2007 plastic bags accounted for 90% of all shopping bags used and America alone went through an estimated 100 billon of them every year. Makes you wonder when you think that these bags made for a one time purpose - the drive home from the supermarket - stick around for hundreds of years.

Thankfully many stores, cities, and even countries are trying to do something about it. Some stores offer rebates for using re-usable bags, others have worked to eliminate plastic bags from check out line completely. As of a BBC report in 2008 many countries had imposed a variety of limitations and restrictions on plastic bags and others had imposed fees or charged taxes for them. Several cities around the world have also taken a stand and had them banned outright. As of January 1, Italy was set to implement a country-wide ban on plastic bags as well.

Just to help get started here is our family’s personal favorite find:

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bag-Cotton-Natural-Grocery/dp/B000RF0X6O
Just so you know, we weren’t paid for this in any way. A while ago I was looking around and found these and fell in love – for being 100% natural cotton and made under Fair Wage/Fair Trade Standards they were the best deal that I found, and I think they’re pretty cute.

If you do a web search or even browse the rest of Amazon you’ll find tons of other styles and prices. Even look around the next time you’re in the checkout line, many stores are selling reusable bags for around $1.00 each.

The only catch once you have them is to use them, so remember to put them some place convenient like a hook next to the door or even in the car. Good luck!

Plastic Solution Checkpoint: It’s all in the Packaging

Take a tour of pretty much any isle of your local supermarket and you may find a choice in the products you’re planning on purchasing that you’ve never considered. Several items today from juice to spaghetti sauce to salsa come in a variety of containers and packaging. One easy step to becoming plastic free is to simply choose the glass jars and bottles, metal cans, or paper boxes for your products instead of the plastic bottles and wrapping. Although glass, metal, and paper remain contenders for packaging in a lot of items, there are some that are becoming more and more dominated by plastic. There still are a few non-plastic options but they may be hidden somewhere like the organic/natural foods isles or at your local co-op. So why is this important? Here are a couple statistics from the United States Environmental Protection Agency as reported in “Did You Just Eat a Plastic Bag? How Plastic Pollution Has Entered Our Food Chain” by Lisa Kaas Boyle in The Huffington Post on January 6, 2011:

1. Plastic Plates and Cups: 780,000 tons were produced, and all 780,000 tons were discarded.

2. Plastic Trash Bags: 930,000 tons were produced, and all 930,000 were discarded.

3. Plastic Bags, Sacks and Wraps: 3,960,000 tons were produced. 9.8% was recovered (390,000). 3,570,000 tons were discarded.

4. "Other" non-durable goods including plastic disposable diapers, footwear and clothing: amounted to 4,810,000 tons produced with all 4,810,000 tons discarded.

5. PET Bottles and Jars: 2,680,000 tons were produced, 27.2 % were recovered (730,000 tons) and 1,950,000 tons were discarded.

6. HDPE (white translucent homopolymer bottles): 750,000 tons were produced, and 29.3 % (220,000 tons) were recovered. 530,000 tons were discarded.

7. "Other Plastic Packaging" including coatings, closures, lids, caps, clamshells, egg cartons, produce baskets, trays, shapes, and loose fill: 3,720,000 tons were produced. 3% (110,000 tons) were recovered, and 3 Million 610 Thousand Tons were discarded.

All in all that means that of 17,630,000 tons of plastic only 1,450,000 tons or 1.2% were recovered. This is for a few reasons.
1. Some people don’t recycle (thankfully this is improving).
2. Some plastics were never designed to be recycled.
3. Recycling plastic doesn’t reduce the demand for new plastic because when you recycle plastic, it actually is not really recycled. As Boyle reports, because of the complicated structure of plastic, most plastic isn’t recycled but “downcycled” and becomes a different lower grade plastic.
4. Plastics absorbs grease dirt and chemicals. Because of this, as much of a third of plastic dropped off for recycling is too greasy and dirty to be recycled, and gets thrown away anyways.

There are also issues of costs and contamination (including when two types of plastic are found together) that prevent plants from accepting significant amounts of the plastic that is out there.

Overall the best choice when it comes to plastic packaging is to stick with the 1st R of Recycling and reduce the amount you use. Glass, metal, and paper products are all much more easily recycled and returned to their natural state to be used again and because they are also more natural elements less harmful when not recycled as well. If you can’t find your favorite products in non-plastic packaging try contacting the company to try and get them to change.

Originally Posted on MarkoBlogger