Executive director for Greenrock, Jonathan Starling, has called for a bottle deposit system in Bermuda which will see returned glass exchanged for cash.

Mr Starling was speaking in light of the glass that was littered over Horseshoe Bay after the Cup Match holiday, as reported in this newspaper.

He believes such a move would help to make recycling more efficient, reduce the amount of litter on the island and help raise awareness about “the true value of the product”.

He told The Royal Gazette: “Right now the true cost of bottles isn’t reflected in the price at the cash register. You need to add in the cost of picking up litter, sorting out trash streams, inefficiencies at the incinerator if glass or cans go there instead of the recycling plant, the cost to public health from cuts and mosquitoes, etc. All of that is being borne by the taxpayer.

“Having a deposit system should reduce the burden on public finances while also improving the quality of life for all Bermudians.”

Mr Starling pointed to a number of different models that could be developed in Bermuda including the government enforcement and redemption of deposits from government-run collection centres.

“It’s important to remember that the concept isn’t new to Bermuda.

“Older generations will remember mineral bottles and returning them for a deposit.

“Also, wherever bottle Bills have been introduced they’ve been proven to work to reduce the amount of litter (and public expenses), increase rates of recycling overall and to make economic sense.

“I am not aware of any polls here in Bermuda on the issue, but there are polls showing solid public support for bottle bills in the USA — I’ve seen polls indicating 70 to 75 per cent support for a national deposit Bill for example.

“The arguments in favour of a bottle Bill are clear, and people will support them as a result.

“In the USA there are ten States plus the territory of Guam that have some form of a bottle bill in place, and there’s campaigns to introduce them in new States and expand them where they do exist.”

Keep Bermuda Beautiful’s 2009 Bermuda Roadside Litter Survey revealed that glass beer bottles is the second most littered item in Bermuda (by count) and the most littered item in Bermuda by volume, comprising just over 12 per cent in the survey.

Anne Hyde, KBB’s executive director agreed a bottle deposit would be a potential alternative for Bermuda, saying: “Any bottle deposit model that Bermuda may adopt needs to be appropriate for Bermuda, and perhaps take into consideration that we don’t need to capture plastics in a bottle return programme because we are already achieving a good zero-waste goal by “recycling” plastics at the incinerator, burning them and creating value for our trash.

“The Tynes Bay Waste-to-Energy can safely burn plastics and generate electricity. In Canada or the States, people are taught to recycle plastics because they are diverting them from a landfill. Bermuda is different.

“We don’t need to divert plastics. We don’t put them in a landfill.

“In Bermuda, we take our useless garbage and burn it to create value — electricity. So we can’t think like a Canadian or American who are being coached to “recycle” plastics as the optimum solution? It is not the case for Bermuda.

“With this in mind, any bottle deposit system for Bermuda should focus on recapturing glass beverage containers.”