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Michigan House Bills 6532 - 6536 OPPOSE

December 4, 2018

Representative Jim Lilly Representative Joseph Bellino Michigan House of Representatives Michigan House of Representatives [email protected] [email protected]

Representative Triston Cole Representative Beau LaFave Michigan House of Representatives Michigan House of Representatives [email protected] [email protected]

Representative Daire Rendon Michigan House of Representatives [email protected]

Dear Representatives Lilly, Bellino, LaFave, Cole, and Rendon:

I am writing on behalf of the Aluminum Association, which represents domestic manufacturers of aluminum, including the producers of the aluminum sheet used to make beverage cans. We would like to express our opposition to House Bills 6532-6536, which collectively would repeal Michigan’s bottle bill. The U.S. aluminum industry generates more than 29,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs and more than $6.8 billion in economic impact in the state.

The Aluminum Association believes that any changes to existing recycling programs should be made to increase the quantity and quality of high-value recycled material. As such, we support deposit laws where they have been enacted and proven successful, as is the case in Michigan.

Already today, Michigan has among the highest aluminum can recycling rates in the country. In our view, the changes proposed in House Bills 6532-6536 to eliminate the deposit program would likely significantly reduce both the quantity and quality of aluminum available for recycling in the state, hurting both the economy and the environment.

The domestic aluminum industry is the leading recycler of used beverage cans (UBCs) in the United States today. Used cans are a vital feedstock that allow for the economical and environmentally sustainable production of new aluminum cans and other products. Aluminum cans made in the United States already contain around 70 percent recycled content on average thanks to concerted industry efforts to collect and re-melt UBCs.

In 2016, the industry collected around 45 billion cans for recycling from domestic consumers for an effective consumer recycling rate of 49.4 percent. This rate, while ahead of any other packaging type, remains far behind most other major can-consuming countries which boast aluminum can recycling rates above 70, 80 or even 90 percent. The rate was also a decline from prior years, underscoring the need for proven recycling programs, like Michigan’s deposit system, as approximately $800 million worth of aluminum ends up in U.S. landfills each year.

Since producing aluminum from recycled material saves 92 percent of the energy required to make new aluminum, the environmental and economic impact of this lost metal is profound. The energy saved by recycling 100 percent of aluminum cans could power 4 million homes for a full year.

Michigan currently boasts the highest container redemption rate in the country, at above 91% in 2017 and like the other deposit states, has an aluminum can recycling rate far above the national average. Indeed, while the ten U.S. deposit states represent about a quarter of all can consumption, they represent more than 40 percent of all cans recycled each year. If all deposit laws in this country were repealed tomorrow, it is likely that the average U.S. consumer recycling rate for aluminum cans would drop 10 to 20 points. This would mean that hundreds of millions of additional pounds of this valuable commodity would end up in landfills or in litter, contributing to the problem of debris in waterways, which is a significant concern to constituents living in communities along rivers and streams.

The quality of the aluminum delivered by deposit programs is also significantly higher than available metal from most municipal recycling facilities (MRFs). While UBCs from state deposit programs typically have contamination levels (by volume) of approximately 0.5 percent, contamination can be as high as 20 percent from non-deposit MRFs. Cleaning contaminated metal for re-melt adds a significant cost burden on all recyclers, and contaminated UBCs pose a safety threat in our members’ re-melt facilities.

The stark reality is this – the small number of states with deposit programs drive a disproportionate amount of domestic aluminum can recycling. No other policy prescription has proven over time to return a similarly high quality and quantity of material. Without deposit programs, our aluminum can recycling rates, which are already low compared to many other can-consuming nations, would fall even lower.

For this reason, the Aluminum Association opposes Michigan House Bills 6532-6536. We appreciate the opportunity to comment and invite you to reach out to us for additional information or clarification.

Respectfully,

Heidi Brock President & CEO The Aluminum Association