No plans to raise bottle refund

Any attempt to increase the amount of money refunded for bottles will only negatively affect the cost of living.

This is according to Minister of Energy, Business Development and Commerce Kerrie Symmonds. He was responding to issues raised with the Returnable Containers Act and proposals to enhance it by founder of Keep Barbados Clean, Peter Bynoe, in the last SATURDAY SUN. 

Symmonds, a Senior Minister, said there was no plan to make such changes at this time.

“As Commerce Minister, my position is that the legislation mandates that any retailer selling beverages for off-site consumption must accept the returned empty containers and pay the statutory cash refunds. Therefore, it is a common-sense proposition that any increase in the amount of money to be refunded on any container will also mean a knock-on effect for participating businesses across the entire economy,” he said.

He explained that the Act was vested in the Ministry of Environment and its operations were now carried out by the Ministry of Health, even though commerce officers conducted the inspections. He said things would also look bleak should any increase in the deposit fee be paid upon entry into Barbados.

“Equally, if the proposed solution is that there should be an increased deposit on every returnable container, and that this deposit should be paid at the point of entry into the country, then that is also problematic. It is unlikely that any importer/wholesaler is going to absorb that increase, and so it is ultimately going to be passed on to the consumer. 

“That creates a cost of living issue. Inflation is already a major concern for every household in the country. Global economic uncertainties are driving up prices of goods across the world and Barbados is no exception. So as far as I am concerned, I am not inclined to support any such proposal that would likely result in the cost to consumers being increased at this time,” the minister said. 

Bynoe had charged that the Act was not being properly enforced and while entities such as B’s Recycling could be placed at a disadvantage, increasing the money for returned bottles could help.

“If the Act is enforced at ten cents a bottle, [B’s Recycling] will complain that [they] can’t make any money because really there’s not that much money in recycled plastic. So the other option is to increase the deposit because in the old days, people used to get 25 cents per glass bottle. 

“So if you had a 25-cent deposit, ten cents could go to [B’s] and the customer then could get back 15 cents. So it’d be more of an incentive, or even if it was 20 cents, the customer could get ten cents, [B’s] would get ten cents. [They] would still make money by shipping it out and recycling it and doing the right thing, and then the customer would get
back something.” 

He added: “Obviously, the more money the customer gets back, the more they will bother to recycle. Right now, I see a lot of Coke and Sprite bottles beside the road because people can’t be bothered, so technically 25 cents would be better, but that’s just my idea.”

Th environmentalist’s proposals included:

• The bottle deposit should be collected when the bottles first enter the Barbadian market.

• For imported bottles: The deposit should be collected at the point of importation, and the money should be placed into a dedicated returnable-container fund.

• For bottles manufactured in Barbados: The deposit should be collected when the bottles are sold by the manufacturer, and this money should also be placed into the same dedicated fund.

• Consumers should be entitled to return eligible bottles to approved distributors, retailers or bottle depots and receive the full refund of
ten cents.

• Distributors, retailers and bottle depots should then be reimbursed from the dedicated fund for the refunds they pay to consumers. This would remove confusion over which company originally imported or distributed each bottle. It would also ensure that the deposit money is available before the bottle is sold and remains available until the bottle is returned.

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