Yes to the bottle bill

Ali T Winston By Ali T Winston The Star-Ledger

The bottle deposit bill is a significant step toward advancing recycling goals and eliminating the costly burden on taxpayers, businesses, schools, hospitals and other institutions to collect, transport and process recyclables, enforce the laws and educate the public about collection.
To collect commingled bottles (glass and plastic) and aluminum cans costs time, money and energy. About 95 percent of glass bottles collected in this state in commingled systems are processed as landfill cover; very little glass gets recycled into glass containers. So we aren't meeting recycling standards, reducing greenhouse gases or saving landfill space or natural resources.
The bottle bill is the first step in a paradigm shift that would lead to an increase in refillable and reusable containers, building sustainable systems to eliminate the single-serve-container mentality and protect our planet.
The Department of Environmental Protection, in an amendment to the Solid Waste Management Plan, said "recycling has declined . . . and to meet our goals we need additional dialogue and attention to waste minimization and waste reduction proposals." The bottle bill is that initiative. For the environment's sake, let's take it seriously.