Why the Bottled Water Bill Now?
It’s the Right Thing To Do







Single-serve bottled water is the fastest growing beverage of choice in the United States.1
Americans purchased nearly 31 billion bottles of water in 2006 and spend $11 billion on bottled water
every year.2
Nationally, only 10% of plastic water bottles are recycled—90% end up
as either garbage or litter.3
30 million single-serve non-returnable containers end up in landfills or as litter every day.4
18 million barrels of crude oil equivalent were consumed in 2005 to replace the 2 million tons of plastic
bottles that were wasted instead of recycled.5
Manufacturing that much plastic releases more than 800,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, contributing to global climate change.6
A water bottle in a landfill or lying around as litter will take over 1,000 years to biodegrade. 7
It’s the Right Time




The last bottle bill proposed in 2004 failed not on substantive grounds, but because of TABOR revenue
collection restrictions.
Those TABOR revenue collection restrictions do not apply now and allow the state of Colorado to cash
fund this new program.
The hook on this bottled water bill is not simply to increase recycling, but provide a mechanism for
funding the shortfall in K-12 education.
Given the need for both increased recycling of water bottles and the public knowledge of the K-12
funding issues, the time is right for this bill.
It’s the Right Folks Involved
 Generally, recycling bills only involve the environmental community.
 While environmental groups, or at least individuals, will form the core coalition for this bill, the bill’s
reach, because of its funding formula, is much broader.
 The public is ready for comprehensive solutions to our broader issues. Given the state of the economy
and the state budget, combining efforts of recycling and school funding is timely and will be welcomed
by the education community.
In sum, I am running this bill because Colorado is at the forefront of the environmental movement. We care
about the quality of our lands and public spaces. While many states enacted bottle bills in the 1970's, Hawaii
recently enacted a bottle bill and in one study of its beaches, debris found went from 23,000 pieces of debris
(litter) to 8,000 after implementation of the bottle bill. There is no question, these programs work. In states that
enact bottle bills, recycling/redemption rates reach 80% on average and as high as 97% (Michigan). Lastly,
PET and HDPE recycling is not an end-all be-all recycling solution, but rather represents an important
component of a comprehensive recycling policy. By passing a water bottle bill, Colorado is taking an important
step in the large recycling picture.
1
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/waterbottles.pdf
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/waterbottles.pdf
3
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/waterbottles.pdf
4
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/waterbottles.pdf
5
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/waterbottles.pdf
6
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/waterbottles.pdf
7
http://www.wasteconnectionsofcolorado.com/news.php
2