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Reloop reimagines the bottle bill for Northeastern states

April 26, 2022

The Bottle Bill Resource Guide—a project of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI)—informs us that “ten states and every Canadian province have a deposit law requiring refundable deposits on certain beverage containers.” Despite opposition from parts of the beverage industry and even from some figures in the recycling industry—recently, John Casella, chairman and CEO of NERC Advisory Member Casella Waste Systems, wrote: “If this material is removed from single-stream recycling and placed into the bottle bill program, the cost of recycling will increase for all Vermonters”—bottle bill advocates pushed back: “deposit laws are known for achieving a high recycling rate for beverage containers and reducing litter where other recycling systems have failed,” CRI states.

Vermont—the home state of NERC and where I reside—adopted a bottle bill law in 1972, one year after Oregon became the first state to do so. Obviously, the beverage packaging industry has undergone monumental changes since then. In response, Vermont legislators have proposed a bill that would expand bottle redemption to many of the containers that have entered the market since 1972.

The article linked to above quotes Elizabeth Balkan, director of Advisory Member Reloop, who observes that 140 billion beverage containers are wasted every year.

““Each of those beverage containers has embodied energy or an embedded carbon footprint because of the energy and resources needed to extract the raw materials, to manufacture the packaging, to transport it,” Balkan told VTDigger.

In March of this year, Reloop published Reimagining the Bottle Bill. The 67-page report focuses on five Northeastern states—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont—and makes the following two points about the region:

  • The US loses $5.1 billion a year in beverage containers to litter, incinerators, and landfills. In the Northeast alone, 403 beverage containers per person are wasted every year.
  • Modernized deposit return systems can reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions by about 550,000 metric tons, save cities & towns $111—$160 million, and create over 2,700 jobs.

“This analysis focuses on the Northeast because five states in this region have already laid the groundwork for successful deposit return systems,” the Reloop report states. However, “outdated features in these systems result in the landfilling, incineration, or littering of more than 14 billion glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers per year in these states at present.”

“Modernizing the systems across the Northeast region will enable each of these states to elevate their redemption rates to 90% or more, satisfy increasing demand for quality materials, intercept additional materials currently excluded from their systems, and serve as a nationwide model for other states to enhance their existing systems or adopt new DRSs based on high-performance principles,” the report continues.

Returning to Vermont, the report asserts that adding bottled water and other beverage packaging containers to the state’s deposit return system could increase its percentage of redeemed containers from 48% to 95%. However, the report warns, “advocates indicate a veto-proof majority will be needed to override a likely veto from the governor should the bill pass.”

Reimagining the Bottle Bill concludes with four goals:

  • Increase targeted audience knowledge of the positive impact of modernized deposit return systems;
  • Educate key stakeholders and implementers on the value and impact of following Reloop North America’s principles;
  • Assist the five northeast states and New York City as they modernize their state-wide deposit return system; and
  • Use work in the Northeast to encourage harmonization of bottle bill policy and terms at the federal level and in states with emerging bottle bills.

Regarding its community of Advisory Members, NERC observes that “A rare synergy is created by NERC’s membership, Board, and staff, enabling members to consider multiple perspectives on a given issue.” Thoughtfully stated differences of opinion can lead to productive breakthroughs and increase knowledge among Members. Reloop’s expansive report is one such source of knowledge, and NERC welcomes its contribution to the dialogue.

By Robert Kropp, NERC Bookkeeper/Office Manager

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