Clover students work with S.C. lawmaker to propose ‘bottle bill’

Eighth-grader Chloe Clark said students at Clover’s Oakridge Middle School realized they throw away too many aluminum cans. And that gave them an idea.

Clark is one of nine students on an Oakridge robotics team who want to propose a state “bottle bill” that would create a 5-cent rebate for people who recycle the cans.

“More people would recycle,” she said, “and the place is going to be cleaner.”

The students teamed up with state Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, who has offered to get the students’ legislative proposal written and introduced in the General Assembly.

Getting the idea enacted won’t be easy, but students want to try.

“Passing a bill is harder than it seems at first,” said Nico Marsilio, 14.

The students proposed the “bottle bill” idea for a recycling research project that was part of their First Lego League Challenge robotics competition. The competition also requires building, designing and demonstrating a robot.

The Oakridge team took first place for their research project at the state robotics event last month, said one of the team coaches, Alison Kingswood. The students could have stopped then, she said.

But they wanted a chance to see their idea become law.

Kingswood said every student on the team agreed to continue meeting after the competition was finished to work on the legislation. They learned that 10 states have such laws, and that a bottle bill proposal was introduced in the S.C. General Assembly a couple of years ago.

They also learned that the rate of recycling is low in South Carolina, compared to other states. Although students said there is no published overall recycling rate for South Carolina, they believe the rate is less than 25 percent, based on their research.

“I honestly thought that it would be a little bit better,” said Matthew Kingswood, 14. “But there is no incentive, or easy way to recycle. It’s not a priority.”

Sam Gossett, 13, agreed. “People just don’t care,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Sam Bangert, 12, said adults aren’t the only people who don’t recycle enough. He has learned “how much I don’t recycle, because there is no incentive.”

Malcolm Addison, 14, said the students have been working with the previous legislation, which was not adopted, “to see why this bill failed, and how our bill could excel.”

Each student is working on a section of the proposal.

Pope, who said he plans to introduce the legislation in the House, said students’ involvement might make a difference. “That can bring attention to it,” he said.

Pope said the timing, at the end of a two-year session, might make it tough for the proposal to advance this year. However, Pope said he is willing to reintroduce it next year.

“My goal is to help them get it put into a bill, and certainly I can get it introduced in the House side for sure, hopefully get a hearing on it and see where it goes from there,” Pope said.

Pope said one reason the previous legislation failed was that it would have involved a lot of state regulation.

But Chase Hernandez, 14, said Oakridge students want to take more of a free-market approach. Their new proposal would involve private recycling companies instead of a state-controlled system, he said.

Pope said that “is wise, and probably has a better chance of passing.”

The students’ idea calls for a two-pronged approach to increase recycling. They propose a 5-cent rebate for each can recycled as a financial incentive.

They also propose a simple curbside pickup of beverage containers that would automatically return the rebate to the client through a reverse vending machine that scans and counts the cans.

The students learned that many European countries use reverse vending machines at stores, where people get their rebates. European countries also have recycling trucks that collect items.

Students say they want to make recycling easier by having private recycling trucks equipped with the reverse vending machines. Rebates could then be immediately credited to customers, they said.

South Carolina would be the main authority and distributor, under the proposal, and beverage distributors would pay an administration fee to the state.

Alison Kingswood, who coaches the team with her husband, Nigel Kingswood and a third coach, Nick Rounds, said she hopes the proposal can be introduced this spring. Pope has invited students to Columbia for the measure’s first reading, she said.

C.J. Stafenco, 13, believes the proposal will make a difference if it becomes law. “States with bottle bills,” Stafenco said, “have higher rates of recycling.”

This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Clover students work with S.C. lawmaker to propose ‘bottle bill’."