Deposits and Returns

Every weekend Harvard Square sees the ritual begin. Crowds of revelers flood local bars and liquor stores to buy refreshments for the evening's entertainment. This occurence is an important part of Harvard Square nightlife, to the merrymakers and to the merchants. But a recent piece of legislation has threatened to dampen the celebration-the Bottle Bill of 1982.

The bill, approved by the state voters in November of 1982, took effect in Massachusetts on January 17, 1983. It requires a nickel or dime deposit for all containers for beer or other malt beverages, soft drinks, and artificially carbonated mineral water. It also stipulates that retailers must accept returns and give refunds for all the types of returnable containers that they sell.

Many retailers and managers dreaded the arrival of the bill, fearing that soaring prices and complicated container redeeming procedures would drive customers away and profits down. Now that the bill has been in effect for more than a month, managers say that these problems have materialized, but they concede that they they are manageable.

Retail liquor stores, markets, and bars are the businesses most directly hit by the bill. They suffer not only from the higher beverage prices as a result of the deposit, but the law also requires that they collect, save, and return bottles and cans to their distributors.

According to Square establishment owners, especially bar owners, the biggest problem they have has since the bill took effect is the lack of storage space for the empties. To collect their refund the bars and retail stores must keep all the empty returnable containers on the premises until a distributor picks them up during delivery of an order, and records the amount owed the retailer.

The volume of returns varies widely from store to store, and many businesses do not yet have accurate estimates of just how much they collect Store 24 gets between 50 to 150 containers per day, according to employee Neil J. Beck, while Cahaly's receives around 200 a day, said one worker who asked not to be identified.

Grocery stores such as Broadway and Sage's have not kept any count of the used containers on their hands; Broadway General Manager John Lichter simply calls the procedure "a godawful mess." "It's a very taxing proposition for us, "notes Stephen J. McCaffrey, manager of One Potato, Two Potato. "We have very limited storage space, hardly enough for incoming deliveries, let alone the returnables."

We have very limited storage space, hardly enough for incoming deliveries, let alone the returnables."

Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant has been forced by the problem to keep" an unsightly collection of empty beer bottles right in our lounge." according to David R. Jones, general manager. He adds that the restaurant has has to make "structural changes" in the bar area, such as adding new shelves, to accomodate the extra containers.

Most of the establishments have chosen to deal with the problem by cutting back on both the number of brands and the amount of orders of domestic beers. Jonathan Swift's, which carried 45 different brands of beer and ale before the bill, has pared down to 22, and will probably eventually go to only 15, according to manager Thomas H. Wolfe.

"We always prided ourselves on our ability to give the customer whatever he wanted." he adds. "but now we have to make the best use of our space."

Another major problem facing the Harvard Square businesses is the extra time and manpower required to collect, sort, and pack the returnable containers for the distributors to pick up. Retail stores must do the sorting all day since they are required by state law to accept returns during all business hours. Bars usually collect and pack the used containers after closing each night.

Boathouse Bar manager Michael T. Meehan describes the time-consuming procedure for the employees. "Every night we all have to sit down and sort through the bottles. It books like a tea-party in here."

The problem is especially acute for small businesses like Louie's Suppurate, located near Mather House. "This is a one-man operations," says owner Louis L. Paris," and with the Bottle Bill, I can't handle it. "Paris was planning to sell the store this year, and says that the bill makes it "easier to let go-I wouldn't touch another store like this."

Most liquor stores, markets, and bars have raised prices on beverages in returnable containers to cover the deposit and handling charges levied by the distributors for picking up the empties. Price hikes range from 7.6 percent on beer at Chi Chi's to 25 percent at Charlie's Kitchen. Soft drink prices have generally been raised only to cover the deposit charge.

To justify the higher beer prices, managers point to the overall price increase in January, when nearly all beer distributors raised prices to cover their own container recovery and reprocessing expenses.

Some managers say that they support the legislation, maintaining that the inconveniences they suffer area a worthy price to pay for the cuts in litter and the resource savings. They often complain, however, because they feel that a loophole in the law lets distributors get away with disposing the used containers, rather than recycling them.

Bert J. Garry, press spokesman for the Executive Office of Environment Affairs-the agency in charge of administering the bill-denies these charges. He concedes that not all of the returnables are recycled into bottles or cans, but he insists that they are used for other products, such as aluminum siding and plastic insulation.

"There is a market for the recycled products and materials, "he says," and the distributors are trying to do their part. "He adds that the office is encouraging the distributors to move to the production of reusable bottle to further conserve resources.

However, the majority of the retail stores and bars in the Square see no significant difference in profits or in customer business as a result of the bill.

"People come to this bar because they like the atmosphere, not because we have Beck's beer," says Meehan of the Boathouse.

Leo McCarthy, manager of Varsity Liquor says he finds no lag in sales, commenting "it's a privilege to buy drinks, not a necessity--people are willing to pay the price."

Nearly all manager agree that customer demand continues the some as usual. Store 24 Manger Gregory E. Higgins comments of the bill. "It's a hassle, but what the beck--we're in business."