Regarding “Bottled up; Texas needs a bottle-deposit law. But the legislation’s stuck in committee.” (Page B6, Friday), a statewide beverage bottle deposit program is an outdated approach that siphons resources from more effective, comprehensive recycling programs. Forced deposits may have made sense 30 years ago, before popular and effective community curbside recycling programs existed across the state, but they just don’t make sense any more.

Bottle deposit programs also come with unintended consequences. Forced deposit programs carry high costs as grocery and convenience stores must set up special infrastructure and staff to receive, move, sort and store returned containers; these are costs that are ultimately shouldered by consumers. Fraud also plagues forced deposit programs when consumers buy beverages in non-deposit states and redeem them elsewhere. Texas is surrounded by non-deposit states and fraud would leave Texans with the tab for our neighbors’ trash.

Finally, forced deposit programs jeopardize community recycling programs by diverting away valuable revenue generators like aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

Instead of mandating a narrowly focused deposit system for beverage containers, manufacturers would rather see expanded participation in proven, comprehensive recycling programs. Greater education and outreach and innovative use of incentives would be a better investment to improve recycling efforts in our state.

— Luke Bellsnyder,
Texas Association of Manufacturers, Austin