Beverage Container Deposit Recycling Act Introduced In General Assembly
The Beverage Container Deposit Recycling Act of 2023 has been introduced in the General Assembly. Clean Water Action has provided this form to allow you to contact your state legislators and ask them to support it. Known as the “bottle bill,” this legislation will fight plastic pollution and increase our state’s recycling rate by creating a financial incentive for residents to properly return empty beverage containers.
Right now, beverage containers, including plastic bottles, are littering our neighborhoods, clogging storm drains, polluting our waterways, and piling up in the landfill. Luckily, 10 states, including our neighbors in Massachusetts and Connecticut, have demonstrated that bottle bills are an effective policy solution. States with bottle bills have a higher rate of recycling AND less litter. This year, Rhode Island can join this club. Clean Water Action urges you to sign a letter to your legislators urging them to support the Rhode Island bottle bill!
In states with a bottle bill, customers pay a small deposit on each container they purchase which is returned to them when they bring the empty bottle back to a participating retailer or redemption center to be recycled. This means there is a financial incentive to keep litter out of our waterways. Even better, the containers collected this way are better sorted and less contaminated than bottles collected by curbside recycling, so they are easier to recycle back into new bottles.
If our state is serious about cleaning up plastic litter, preventing microplastics from polluting our ponds and river, and diverting waste away from the landfill, then the single most impactful policy we can adopt is the bottle bill. Tell your legislators to support the RI bottle bill today!
Thanks for taking action!
Jed Thorp
RI State Director Clean Water Action
Banner image is a photo of empty nip bottles found over just days of collecting from local roadsides by members of Friends of the Saugatucket.
Visit Our “Trash Talk” Page For More On The Litter Issue
February 27, 2023 @ 8:38 am
Many people do not know that “unclaimed” bottle deposits go to the State. In Connecticut, over 43 million dollars went to the state in unclaimed deposits. So, don’t be misled into thinking that this is all about the environment. Good citizens, like myself, do the right thing and recycle. The larger cities seem to be less engaged in recycling and the bottle bill will not change that significantly. Just another form of tax
February 25, 2023 @ 9:32 am
Understand that issue but isn’t the amount of plastics utilized in packaging a greater problem?
February 24, 2023 @ 7:41 am
Nip bottles are not only despoiling our roadsides but they have crept into our parks and recreation facilities.