Michigan Task Force Considers Expanding Bottle Law

The state of Michigan’s Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema is setting up a task force to consider whether Michigan's 26-year-old bottle deposit law should be expanded to include juice, water and tea containers.

Requiring deposits on these newly popular products would make Michigan the nation's bottle recycling leader. But grocers say they'd be forced to find more space for unsanitary empties while also meeting stringent food protection standards.

Sikkema wants to consider whether to adopt a broad approach to recycling, rather than simply expanding the bottle return law. Gov. Jennifer Granholm favors expansion of the bottle law.

"We feel, on a lot of these environmental issues, we have common ground with Sen. Sikkema," said Granholm spokeswoman Mary Dettloff.

State law currently requires 10-cent deposits on beer and soft drink cans and bottles. Environmentalists say discarded containers from a host of new drinks, not covered by that law, are piling up along roads.

Michigan Grocers Association President Linda Gobler said no other state requires deposits on these containers. Grocers worry about finding the added space and protecting food from vermin the used bottles attract.

"Last year, we raised the issue of food safety," Gobler said. "You would be absolutely disgusted at what some people put in those used containers they bring back." Detroit News