Hawaii Bottle Bill After One Year

In a press release from the Hawaii Department of Health the benefits and growing pains of the one year old Hawaii Bottle Bill are documented.

On containers covered in the bill the redemption rate went from 20% to 70%! A 50% redemption rate increase in six months! That means that approximately 650,000,000 bottles and cans were kept out of landfills, ditches, yards, creeks and the ocean in 2005 as a result of this new bottle bill.

In addition, Laurence Lau, the Department of Health Deputy Director of Environmental Health Administration, added that “They(citizens) are participating because it means cleaner streets, parks and beaches,” said Lau. “It also allows schools and
nonprofit groups a fundraising resource that, thus far, has been very popular.”