It's an irony that the very success of a government program to change human behavior has raised its operating costs.

That's the case with the state's HI-5¢ container recycling program, run by the state Department of Health. In a relatively short time, the redemption of beverage containers — by individuals, school fund-raisers and others — has risen to a whopping 77 percent. That raises the possibility that the program's administrators may need more money to run it than the 1-cent-per-container administrative fee now provides.

Legislators anticipated this and enacted the law with a trigger to authorize an increase in the container fee — the 6 cents shoppers pay per container — when redemption rates hit 70 percent.

So far the health department has opted against raising the fee consumers pay to offset administrative costs. That is the right instinct — especially now, when the public is being hit with additional taxes and fees to close budgetary gaps caused by the economic recession.

Of course, the state created a little breathing room for itself when it set up the fund, collecting money months before consumers were able to redeem containers for a nickel each.

During the past session, lawmakers diverted interest payments from the fund to general budgetary purposes. The state must monitor the effect of this diversion on its ability to finance the program and revisit the provision next session.

Economic recovery will take time, and state leaders will be tempted again next year to tap the HI-5¢ fund. But they shouldn't do so to the detriment of this environmental program — or the consumers who've made it so successful.