Friday June 15, 2012  After 14 years of being bottlenecked on
Beacon Hill, the last thing a proposed updated bottle law needs
is further study. The bill's exile to a study committee Thursday
was not about "study" of course, but about killing it and
pleasing the special interests that constitute the only
opposition to the much-needed upgrade.  The reform of the
30-year-old bottle law would have added containers that hold
water, sports drinks, iced tea and non-carbonated beverages,
which have come to dominate a marketplace previously reserved
primarily for beer and carbonated soft drink containers. By
adding a 5 cent deposit to these new categories, the amount of
bottles that litter roadways and clog landfills would have been
reduced and unclaimed deposits would have provided needed
revenue for the state.  The claim of the Massachusetts Food
Association, the leading opponent of the bill, that the
recycling system doesn't work is untrue, as we in the Berkshires
see it working around us. The argument that the upd