Tennessee Subcommittee Nixes Bottle Bill

A Tennessee House Subcommittee has denied a bill that sought to make the state a bottle bill deposit state.

House Bill 3350, sponsored by Representative Russell Johnson, had sought to put in place a $.03 deposit beverage container fee for each glass, plastic, aluminum, steel or bi-metal deposit manufactured in the state. Further, the bill sought to improve a refund value of five cents per filled deposit beverage container.

The bill also stipulated that starting Jan. 1, 2008, deposit beverage distributors paying the deposit would charge a deposit equal to the five-cent refund value for each deposit beverage container sold in Tennessee against the consumer or the dealer engaging in the sale of beverages in deposit beverage containers to be consumed off-premises. If the dealer is charged for the deposit, the dealer would charge the consumer the deposit beverage container deposit at the point of sale.

If the bill passed it would have taken effect on July 1, 2006. The implementation of the program would begin no later than January 1, 2008.