Poland Spring C.E.O. Proposes Change In Recycling

 

When a consumer buys a bottle of soda or water in Connecticut they pay a deposit on the bottle. When the consumer returns the empty they get their five cents back. The retailers collect the empties and receive a small handling fee. Only beverage manufacturers are required to be part of the deposit program.

 

Kim Jeffery, CEO of Nestle Waters North America, wants to change that. At a talk at Yale University this week Jeffery proposed a plan to recycle all containers... from laundry detergent to peanut butter. He says the producers of the products should manage the program.

 

“We can’t ask retailers to be recycling centers for all the materials that need recycling in America. This system simply is not expandable.”

 

Under Jeffery’s plan, instead of a five cent deposit on beverage containers alone - a one to two cent fee would be incorporated into the cost of all products sold in plastic containers. Jeffery says his company doesn’t make enough on each bottle to absorb the cost.  Manufacturers would then pay for the recycling infrastructure and consumer education.

 

“I’m talking about recycling on steroids... I’m talking about organizing this and funding this through companies like myself, Clorox, Proctor and Gamble, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Unilever, Coca Cola and Pepsi.”

 

Scott Cassel of the Product Stewardship Institute says he supports the idea of manufacturers taking more responsibility, but he says there would be no financial incentive to recycle the containers.

 

“If the bottle bill were repealed in states that have it, the recycling rate for those containers may actually be reduced.”

 

Under Connecticut’s deposit program the unclaimed nickels from unreturned bottles goes to the state’s General Fund. Those nickels added up to more than $24 Million this past year. 

 

For WNPR I’m Nancy Cohen.