In 1971, Oregon Governor Tom McCall (pictured here on the left in a classic photo by Gerry Lewin) signed a piece of legislation into law known as the Bottle Bill. It required a cash deposit of five cents on returnable cans and bottles and was the first law of its kind in the nation. The Bottle Bill became a cornerstone of McCall\u2019s visionary tenure as Governor and a part of every Oregonian who grew up with it and integrated the recycling into their lives.<\/p>\n
Like me. Collecting cans and bottles alongside roadways as a kid in Oregon City during the loose 1970s was my first real job outside of yard work. I used the proceeds to buy books, toys, snacks and later, in junior high, movie dates! That ready cash went a long way in that first 10-15 years of the Bottle Bill and in my early 20s it was a rite of Oregon passage to redeem all your empty beer cans and bottles at the grocery store and buy more beer.<\/p>\n
Today, April 1, 2017, 46 years later, the rate of deposit goes up to ten cents. That it took almost half a century for an\u00a0increase says a lot about Oregon politics the last two decades but I don\u2019t feel like saying it here.<\/p>\n
That five cents will go a long way for some people. I’ve recently met men who are living off returning cans and bottles.<\/p>\n
In celebration of this rate increase, I would\u00a0like to present one of my favorite Oregon poems, \u201cOregon\u2019s Revolutionary Bottle Law,\u201d written by Robert A. Davies. I\u2019m not positive, but I believe Davies published the poem as part of a collection not long after passage of the bill. This is a truly remarkable poem to me because of what the poet observes happening after the bottles and cans became valuable. It was a \u201crevolution\u201d as he states, and it enabled others to see others for the first time. Perhaps even interact with them. Sometimes this kind of seeing and interaction unnerves people, but I think it\u2019s healthy for a democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOregon\u2019s Revolutionary Bottle Law,\u201d is the only poem I have ever read that was inspired by an act of a state legislature. It might be the only one ever written anywhere. But then again, that was Stone Oregon in the McCall era.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Overnight<\/p>\n
the returnable bottle<\/p>\n
turned to revolution,<\/p>\n
crews deployed to pick heads up<\/p>\n
on roadsides. On streets<\/p>\n
of aristocrats<\/p>\n
motorized units<\/p>\n
of shopping carts squeaked<\/p>\n
like rats all day long.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of us started saying<\/p>\n
hello to them: the man in checkered suit, with red hair \u2014<\/p>\n
the respectable-looking<\/p>\n
one who walked his terrier \u2014<\/p>\n
some with pockets for buttocks \u2014<\/p>\n
the bearded, ill-shod \u2014<\/p>\n
all collecting bot-<\/p>\n
tles, some tasting our moldy<\/p>\n
cake. Let them eat cake.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was so different<\/p>\n
when we didn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
What was money for?<\/p>\n
our neighborhood invaded<\/p>\n
by people who had no roof<\/p>\n
to call their own. Or no food.<\/p>\n
Too few bottles on our street:<\/p>\n
Why didn\u2019t they unionize?<\/p>\n
(It had come to this)<\/p>\n
so many to work a street.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Earlier and earlier<\/p>\n
they came, more and more-<\/p>\n
smells and squeaks drifting<\/p>\n
into our sleep. No<\/p>\n
sleep at length. No! We wouldn\u2019t<\/p>\n
put up with it. Our mayor<\/p>\n
would have to stop it.<\/p>\n
He wouldn\u2019t, was their mayor<\/p>\n
too. Imagine! It was then<\/p>\n
we turned into poison.<\/p>\n\n
In 1971, Oregon Governor Tom McCall (pictured here on the left in a classic photo by Gerry Lewin) signed a piece of legislation into law known as the Bottle Bill. It required a cash deposit of five cents on returnable cans and bottles and was the first law of its kind in the nation. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[55,52,53,54],"class_list":["post-2553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","tag-bottle-bill","tag-oregon","tag-oregon-history","tag-tom-mccall","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2557,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions\/2557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}