2 weeks Ago
Fresh off the heels of announcing a price increase, a national bottler in New York has announced receiving a $3.9 million tax break from the state. Tim Wozniak owns Quick & Easy Bottle Return in Cheektowaga.
This occurred after the bottler launched a successful lobbying campaign to defeat a bill that would increase the handling fee redemption centers receive to process empty bottles and cans. To be clear, this is the handling fee redemption centers receive, not the bottle/can deposit. Bottlers across New York labeled redemption center owners as radicals for wanting this increase.
The compensation redemption centers receive is dictated by the state and has not increased since 2009. Meanwhile expenses like rent, utilities and insurance have all increased — not to mention the number of times the minimum wage has increased. These businesses employ hundreds, play a large role in the recycling effort in the state and are an integral part of the fundraising efforts of Boy and Girl Scouts troops, charitable organizations and many other nonprofit organizations.
They depend on can and bottle drives to raise much needed funds. There is also direct employment and support employment: the truck drivers who pick up our empties, the recycling centers that process the empties, even the company that manufactures the state-mandated bags we use. The bottle/can redemption industry is unique in the respect that as expenses increase, we cannot give ourselves a raise.
Only the state can do that. Sadly, redemption centers are dwindling at a rapid rate, having to rely on 2008 compensation to run a 2024 business. Family-owned businesses are being forced to close, with employees laid off.
This is due to New York bowing to billion dollar businesses and serving up corporate welfare while family-owned redemption centers are left to barely survive and in multiple instances, forced out of business entirely. Last year, Maine enacted emergency legislation increasing the handling fee for their redemption centers and averted a crises. They helped their business owners stay open and their employees to continue working.
New York has not given this industry a raise in 15 years. Minimum wage has increased 11 times in that time period. Last year the state legislature voted themselves a 29% pay raise, an increase of $32,000.
Redemption centers ask for a fraction of that amount. Does New York support small business? Does it truly have an environmental conscience? Our governor and the state Legislature need to fix the problem they have created through inaction. Tim Wozniak is the owner of Quick & Easy Bottle/Can Return.
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