Revenues from one of Michigan’s most successful environmental laws, the 10-cent bottle and can deposit, are at risk of being diverted from public to private uses.

Enacted by an overwhelming majority of voters in 1976, the deposit law enjoyed strong support by then-Governor William Milliken and environmental groups.  It has made a remarkable, positive difference in reducing roadside litter and boosting recycling. 

Equally important, deposits that are not claimed by consumers go into a public fund and the majority of that money goes to clean up some of Michigan’s backlog of thousands of contaminated sites impacting the land and water. Currently, 75% of unreturned bottle deposit funds are disbursed to the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Environment for cleanup while 25% are given to retailers.

Unfortunately, the same special interests that fought the deposit law in vain in the 1976 election are back. Beverage distributors who opposed the law back then are trying to take more of the unclaimed dimes (also known as “escheats”) away from cleanup to compensate themselves for what they claim are the costs of handling deposit bottles and cans.  

As passed by the Michigan House and being considered by the Senate, here’s how their scheme would work:

In addition to the 25% of unclaimed deposits that already go to retailers, House Bill 4443 would establish a half-cent income tax credit to be given to beverage container distributors for every returnable container sold in Michigan during the tax year. According to a House Fiscal Analysis, a half-cent income tax credit on four billion bottles annually would cost the state more than $20 million each year.

For 2020, 2021, and 2022, when the unclaimed deposits total at least $50 million, House Bill 4444 (H-1) would use the unclaimed dimes to pay back the general fund for the income tax credits claimed under HB 4443—money that mostly would have supported cleanup of contamination.

This diversion of money from public to private purposes would squander a unique opportunity to clean up many of Michigan’s 24,000 contaminated sites.

For 2020, Michigan will receive $107 million in unclaimed bottle bill deposits, $81 million of which would be made available to EGLE for contaminated site clean up under current law.

Proponents of these two House bills claim this money from the state will be reinvested into the (privately owned) bottle-return infrastructure. But the bills include zero provisions to protect the public interest in ensuring that will happen. Proponents actually asked the legislature to just “trust them” during committee testimony.

Michigan residents can’t allow Lansing to jeopardize our public health and safety. We need to be putting more money into cleanup, not less.

This bill is being rushed through the Michigan Legislature, so we ask you to take action today by asking your State Senator to vote NO on HB 4443 and HB 4444.