Bermuda could introduce a "bottle bill'' to ensure the public do not dump recyclable containers, it was revealed yesterday.

The suggestion came from Pat Franklin, executive director of the US-based Container Recycling Institute, who will tonight address Keep Bermuda Beautiful on the battle to reduce litter which could be given a new lease of life.

The KBB have been holding litter surveys since 1991 and have found bottles, cans and other containers comprising up to 30%, by piece, of litter.

"Based on these findings, there have been calls from some of the community for a bottle bill,'' Vanese Flood of KBB told The Royal Gazette .

"We are at the fact finding stage,'' she added. "KBB has met with some bottlers and distributors to understand their positions.'' "We've discussed what to do with the irresponsible disposal of their products,'' she continued. Ms Franklin was speaking before she talks to the AGM of the Island environmental watchdog.

CRI is a small Arlington, Virginia, clearinghouse and resource centre for information about container deposit programmes in North America. "Bottle bill is really a misnomer because it includes plastic and other kinds of containers,'' Ms Franklin said.

She added the legislation is the most successful litter reduction system in North America with States and Provinces seeing great reductions in the amount of litter. "It is successful because it operates as capitalism, the bottles become worth something to save,'' she said.

Container recycling is not a new idea, she said. "It was invented by the industry, they could use the container 30 times or more.'' "If you pay a dollar for a soda, ten cents of that is product and the rest is packaging,'' she said. "You wouldn't buy shoes and pay ten times more for the shoe box.'' Findings worldwide had found the removal of bottles and cans from the waste stream led to the reduction in the volume of litter.

Ms Franklin said manufacturers and bottlers often opposed bottle bills as they would want governments and consumers to bear the costs of litter clean ups and recycling. "You have a David and Goliath situation,'' she said. "But with tourism being the pillar of the economy, and with a jewel of an island I can't imagine it not protecting itself.'' The public are invited to attend the AGM tonight at 6 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church on South Road in Paget.

Ernest Payette