Originally published in the Kuliouou Neighborhood Board Report, Feb. 3, 2005.

I've introduced a new bill that will repeal the deposit beverage container program and the "tax" associated with it. If the bill is enacted into law, the special fund associated with the program will lapse back into the general fund and the tax will end.

If you support the repeal of the beverage container program and its onerous fee (6-cent hit per container and only 5 cents returned if you redeem your container), then call members of the Senate's Energy, Environment and International Affairs committee as well as members of the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee to bring SB 892 up for a public hearing.

Since the beverage container tax program started in earnest on January 1, about 8.3 million containers were recycled by 33 of 51 sites. The State projects that $48 million a year in fees will be collected on an estimated 800 million containers consumed annually in Hawaii.

The program has been criticized not only in terms of cost to consumers, but also for the inconvenience of storing and redeeming containers. Redemption sites are not open at convenient hours, there are not enough of them, and the hours of operation are not convenient. I believe it best to end the tax and support the City's recycling efforts.