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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1982)
25% - 50% OFF (credit cards 22%) IMPORTED CLOTHES Dresses, Blouses, Skirts, Jewelry and more!! 2**wuMtaaroc mmm* Looking for a place to live? Check the ODE Classified* Oregon bottle bill completes first decade Environmentalists love the bill, business learns to live with it By John Hart OlVta EmaraM Ten years after Oregon legis lators decided banning throwaway bottles would help alleviate part of the litter prob lem in the state, environmen talists are thrilled with the re sults, while businessmen say they have “accepted” it. This November voters in Cal ifornia, Washington and two other western states will make a "bottle bill” decision, while a 3« XEROX Copies Krazy Kats 1219 Alder 9.?n I ft. on a m Home made doughnut .JU IU.JU a.nl. & coffee • 6a 2 - J n m Home made doughnut & coffee • 6a * " * Home made pie & coffee • $1.05 1249 Alder • 484-2956 cookies and croissants by the half-dozen Chocolate chip cookies $2.25 8-6 Monday - Friday New Saturday Hours 8-3 Croissants $3.50 881 E. 13th on campus 484-1662 TABLES OUTSIDE ' Greek specialties at reasonable prices Seafood lunch special every weekday for under $4. poppis GREEK PEASANT FOOD WINE & SPIRIT 675 E. 13th Awe. • Closed Tuesdays * 343-0846 11 30 am -11 00 pm weekdays • 9 am -11 00 pm _ weekends referendum to repeal a measure is scheduled in Massachusetts. A similar law is also being con sidered by Congress. Oregon's law requires a min imum deposit for beverage cans and bottles and outlaws cans with pull-tab tops. Many recycling organizations were worried about losing busi ness when the bill was first in troduced in Oregon. "We were for it from an ethical point of view,” says Nancy Polley. public relations and education specialist for Begin Recycling in Natural Groups, a non-profit recycling effort in Eugene. But the bill "has actually helped our business in some ways, ” she says, referring to the educational benefits of having "recyclable" printed on every can. According to Polley, use of the word introduces people to the idea of saving our natural resources for re-use. She es timates $200 in cans are donat ed to BRING each month. Commercially-motivated recyclers have realized an in crease in revenues since Oregon's bottle bill went into affect because beer and soft drink companies must discard all returns they receive from their products, says Dan Smith of Smith and Hill Recyclers. Steve Bauder, assistant man ager of the Franklin Boulevard McKay's Market, says beverage^ manufacturers have had ample time to adapt to it. / The major changes that had to be made included providing space - a scarce resource in the retail grocery trade — and scheduling additional hours each day to organize returns, he says. Two changes in the bill during the last legislative session im proved conditions for redemp tion centers. The first limits the number of containers they must accept at one time to 96, while the second allows them to refuse containers that are not clean, says Kathy Keene, vice president of the 800-member Oregon Retail Council. Another amendment, which would establish centrally-locat ed redemption centers, was considered during that session, and Keene says she expects it to be re-introduced during the coming session. The idea has both supporters and opponents. Keene says Supporters feel it would al leviate many of the problems in terms of space and time, while opponents are afraid such a measure would give unfair ad Photo by Jay Joton A Mayfair bottie Clark deals with the product of the bottle bill — lots of empties. vantage to such centers if they are located in areas where beverages are sold, she says. Logistics, transportation and increased capital investment / posed the greatest problems for Willamette Beverage Co., says Reagan Matsler, vice president and general manager The initial capital investment jumped by more than 100 per cent the day the law went into effect, he says. The company was forced to increase its warehouse space from 25,000 to 65,000 square feet. Another 17,000 square feet was added in 1979, and more trucks and man-hours were required to deliver beverage and return empties, Matsler says Legislators should have al lowed consumer demands to dictate the industry's direction instead of blaming throwaway cans and bottles for the litter problem, he says Can sales dropped from 28 Safe? Protect yourself!! We will provide you with a compact portable Door Alarm that alerts you to intruders. Protect yourself and your property in dorms, apartments, and houses, with an alarm device that cost less than $50 For more information call: Suimex Comp. 683-8254 percent to 5 percent of gross sales in 1972, but rebounded to 35 percent by 1982, Matsler says. Thus, consumers have cans and a cleaner environ ment, he emphasizes. His opposition to the bottle bill is not an attack on the benefits of the bill, Matsler says, but rather a response to legislators imposing restrictions on busin esses and consumers without adequate justification. "I would be diametrically op posed to anything that would not allow our customers to make their own choice," he says. "Business understands the need for individuality." Business should respond to the desires of its customers rather than the dictates of legis lators, Matsler says. The teenage crews hired at taxpayers' expense to police Oregon roadways were more effective in cleaning up the en vironment than the bottle bill, he says. "The Oregon bottle bill is very firm," Smith says. “It's here, and the industry has adjusted." /g College graduates and college seniors, ages 1&-26 Applications now being accepted for USAF Flight Training. Call Jim Kiger in Eugene at 687-6786 AMi - 1? A great Me
