State HI-5 Fees to Decrease

Consumers may see a half-cent decrease in the state’s HI-5 beverage container recycling program’s 1.5 cent container fee. The decrease follows the Hawai’i State Department of Health’s annual review of the container redemption rate, which showed a recycling decrease from 72.6 percent in fiscal year 2014 to 68.4 percent in the 2015 fiscal year that ended in June.

“Since its inception, the HI-program has recycled more than 6.67 billion containers,” said Keith Kawaoka, DOH deputy Director of Environmental Health. “Despite the lower redemption rate during fiscal year 2015, Hawai’i residents still managed to recycle an estimate of more than 640 million containers, helping to significantly reduce litter and conserve resources.”

The new one-cent rate will go into effect on Sept. 1, according to the DOH, and is the result of a redemption rate that is below 70 percent. By law, the DOH is required to lower the container fee to one cent if the redemption rate is below 70 percent during its 12-month fiscal period.

“This fee is often passed on to retailers, which in turn passes it on to consumers. It is added to the five-cent deposit charged for each container at the register, so the public may see reduced fees at some retailers when purchasing beverages in HI-5 containers,” Kawaoka said.

Fees paid as container deposits are used to provide funding for the Deposit Beverage Container Program and are used to pay handling fees to redemption centers statewide that have been certified. The fees also support administrative activities that are necessary to run the program.

To learn more about the state’s Deposit Beverage Container Program, visit the DOH website.