People aren’t returning their HI-5 bottles and cans as often as they used to, so the state is trimming a half-cent off its administrative fee.
People aren’t returning their HI-5 bottles and cans as often as they used to, so the state is trimming a half-cent off its administrative fee.
The recycling rate for HI-5 deposit beverage containers dropped from 72.6 percent in 2014 to 68.4 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, the state Department of Health said Monday in a news release.
State law mandates a one-cent per container administrative fee when redemption rates fall below 70 percent. That means retailers can charge one cent per container in addition to the 5-cent redemption fee at the register.
The 5 cents is returned to consumers when they take the container to a redemption center. The extra penny, or currently, 1.5 cents, is used to pay handling fees to certified redemption centers throughout the state and support a variety of administrative activities required to implement the program.
The reduced fee will go into effect Sept. 1.
“This fee is often passed on to retailers, which in turn passes it on to consumers. It is added to the 5-cent deposit charged for each container at the register, so the public may see reduced fees at some retailers when purchasing beverages in HI-5 containers,” Keith Kawaoka, DOH deputy director of Environmental Health, said in a statement.
It’s not known exactly why people aren’t returning the HI-5 containers as often, said Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo. The department does have some theories, however.
“Yes, this is a concern,” Okubo said. “But we really don’t know what the reasons are.”
An important factor affecting the redemption rate might have been the reduction in the number of redemption centers in the last few years from 110 centers to 91, Okubo said. A number of certified redemption centers have not been able to renew their leases and with fewer centers, the convenience of recycling might have been challenging for many people and become an obstacle for recycling.
The recycling rate also might be affected by the practice of weighing segregated plastic, cans and glass rather than counting the containers. Plastic bottles especially have gotten thinner and lighter, possibly leading to undercounts of containers, she said. The department plans to conduct a segregation study this year to update the weighing rates, she said.
Also, there has been closer monitoring of redemption centers, perhaps leading to less overcounting of containers, she said.
The redemption rate climbed to 70 percent in 2008 and the department raised the container fee by a half-cent in 2012. The department anticipates the one-cent container fee will sufficiently sustain the program even if redemption rates return to 70 percent, Okubo said.
Hawaii County officials did not return telephone messages by press time Monday to comment about how the island’s recycling rate compares with the state’s.
Since its inception, the HI-5 program has recycled more than 6.67 billion containers, Kawaoka said.
“Despite the lower redemption rate during fiscal year 2015, Hawaii residents still managed to recycle an estimate of more than 640 million containers, helping to significantly reduce litter and conserve resources,” he added.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.