The Bottle Recycling Climate Protection Act of 2007

THE BOTTLE RECYCLING CLIMATE PROTECTION ACT OF 2007 -- (Extensions of Remarks - November 15, 2007)

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SPEECH OF
HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY
OF MASSACHUSETTS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2007

* Mr. MARKEY. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Bottle Recycling Climate Protection Act of 2007, which would establish a national program to promote the recycling of beverage containers, including bottled water, iced teas, sports drinks and carbonated beverages, by offering a national 5 cent deposit. This bill would help move the Nation towards a future of less global warming pollution by reducing the energy and related heat-trapping emissions needed to create the materials used in new beverage containers.

* Twenty-five years ago, my state of Massachusetts became one of the first states to pass a state bottle bill in order to encourage the recycling of cans and bottles. Since its inception, Massachusetts' bottle law has been a tremendous success. In 2006, over 2 billion beverage containers were sold in Massachusetts and nearly 70 percent of them were recycled rather than littered or incinerated.

* Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously called the States ``laboratories of democracy''--the places where innovative solutions to the Nation's challenges are developed. Nowhere is the States' pioneering role in our system more vital today than in the area of energy independence and global warming. On these critical issues, the States are in the vanguard of a green energy revolution. In the case of the bottle bill, 11 states have acted as laboratories for more than two decades, very successfully. Now is the time to move this important program onto the national stage.

* Recycling and reusing these bottles not only reduces the amount of litter that ends up in

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our streets and the amount of trash that ends up in our landfills, it also dramatically reduces the amount of global warming pollution that ends up in our atmosphere. If all of the 58 billion aluminum cans that are thrown away every year in the United States were recycled, it would cut the emissions of heat-trapping carbon pollution by nearly 6 million tons--the equivalent of the pollution from more than one million cars. Cans made from recycled aluminum use 95 percent less energy than cans manufactured with new materials.

* In addition, plastic water and juice bottles have become increasingly prevalent since many state bottle bills were initially adopted. While less than half of the aluminum cans sold every year are recycled, an astounding 80 percent of the 60 billion plastic bottles sold each year are not recycled. Including plastic bottles in a national bottle bill would lead to significant savings in energy and oil consumption. One ton of recycled plastic saves 5,774 kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity and 685 gallons of oil.

* I am proud to introduce this important bill today on America Recycles Day. Passing this bill would allow Congress to send the nation a global warming message in a bottle. We can still quench our thirst while reducing our thirst for energy. And we can have carbon dioxide in our fizzy drinks, while cutting down on heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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