COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT
MINUTES: March 8, 2004
MEMBERS:Chair: Abinanti – Legislators: Kaplowitz, LaMotte, Maisano, Latimer, Rogowsky
IN ATTENDANCE:BOL STAFF: Tara Bernard; CEO: A. Neuman; DEF: Jim Hogan, OTHERS: Susan Goodwin, Janet Jaidi (LWV); Colleen Meares (Stop & Shop Supermarkets; Joe Moran (A&P Tea Company); Mary Moore (DAgostino Supermarkets); Ross Campbell (D. Bertoline & Sons, Inc.); Susan Craine (NYPIRG); Pat Brodehagen (Food Industry Alliance); Maureen Dolan, Robert Foster (CCE); Michael Sobol, Robert Vessa, Frank Colacurdo, William DeTorres (Empire State Beer Distributor’s Association)
TOPIC: Proposed Expanded Bottle Bill (opposition)
DISCUSSION:
Chair Abinanti called the meeting to order at 3:22pm.
Chair Abinanti explained that on February 9th, this committee heard testimony from those who are in favor of the proposed expanded Bottle Bill, currently pending before the State Legislature – so today, the committee will here from those who are opposed to the Bill.
Chair Abinanti asked the guests to introduce themselves. He then asked that Jim Hogan give the members a short recap of the February 9th meeting, which he did, noting the Bill would provide both energy and economic benefits. He also noted that the County’s Facility can burn plastic. Chair Abinanti asked Mr. Hogan to put together a brief summary of what the fiscal impact to Westchester County would be. Mr. Hogan agreed.
Chair Abinanti then asked for input from the various representatives at the meeting who oppose the Bill. Numerous points were made in this discussion, including the lack of storage space in retail stores for additional bottles and the small amount of money retailers make on the redemption process (2 cents/per unit handling fee). Mary Moore of DAgostino’s stated that her stores actually lose up to $725K per year in this process, and they are “over-redeeming” by about $400K. Others agreed that they have incurred similar problems. Mr. Moran (A&P) suggested that there should be one large state central redemption center that would help. Mr. Vessa (Empire) stated that there should be an increase in the handling fee.
After some further discussion, Chair Abinanti thanked everyone for their input and stated that the State needs to address the overall problems with the existing recycling/redemption process, then enable the stores and distributors to handle any increase in volume.
A motion was made by Legislator Latimer to approve the February 9th minutes, seconded by Legislator Maisano, all in favor – aye, 5-0 (Rogowsky out for vote).
At 4:45pm, a motion to adjourn was made by Legislator LaMotte, seconded by Legislator Latimer, all in favor – aye (Rogowsky out for vote).
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