Millions in bottle recycling fees are missing

Shortfall could be passed to buyers

Delaware's tax agency is hunting down millions of dollars in unpaid bottle fees earmarked for recycling amid concerns that forecasters might have overestimated the revenue to lawmakers last year.
The missing money could mean higher costs for consumers and slower growth in recycling as officials scale back startup assistance to recycling businesses and programs that support household and commercial recycling.
Division of Revenue Director Patrick T. Carter said retailers have sent in only about $2.8 million of the $4.5 million expected from a 4-cent fee on smaller carbonated bottles through September.
At that rate, collections would fall about $2.2 million, or 40 percent, short of the expected annual pace, and $8.8 million below the total forecast used when the General Assembly approved a landmark recycling law in April 2010. The same bill ended a failed 5-cent bottle deposit program widely ignored by consumers and never tapped for public purposes.
"We've actually hired a seasonal auditor who is going out on the road. He has a list of noncompliant retailers and he's visiting them to find out what they're doing," Carter told the Recycling Public Advisory Council during a meeting in Lewes.
Legislation signed last year requires all trash haulers serving single-family homes to provide curbside recycling pickups as part of their regular service. All multifamily homes must have recycling services by Jan. 1, 2013, with commercial sites covered by 2014.
The 4-cent fee, slated to end the year that commercial pickups begin, was intended to provide grants and low-interest loans to government and nonprofit groups and businesses involved with recycling. Eligible purposes range from purchases of equipment and pickup bins to programs such as composting that divert waste from landfills and educational services.
Only about 1,000 of the 3,700 retailers believed to sell the bottles covered by the fee have sent in monthly payments, Carter said.
Calls to more than a dozen small food retailers around the state on Thursday turned up a mix of views about the change, with few willing to speak publicly.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ARTICLE