Oregon Passes New Bottle Bill, Artists Deprived

Beginning Jan. 1, 2009, Oregonians will have to plunk down a nickel deposit on every bottle of water they buy. Yes, the Oregon House passed the Oregon Bottle Bill. The Senate passed a similar bill, so Oregon will recycle instead of dumping. Oregonians buy nearly 200 million bottles of water each year and most are not recycled. The state Department of Environmental Quality estimates that