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Call Your
State Rep and Senator Today!
What is the Bottle Bill? The Bottle Bill is the common name for Massachusetts General Law (MGL) c.94, s.321-327. The law imposes refundable deposits on beer and soda containers thus providing a financial incentive for the public to return them for recycling. Why update the Bottle Bill? The goal of the Bottle Bill is to target beverage containers that generate most of the litter. In 1983, when the law was created, those were beer and soda containers, and the bottle bill has been effective in reducing the number of these found in litter. Today, much of the litter comes from non-carbonated beverages (water, juice, sport drinks, etc.) that have become common over the last few years. We need to update the Bottle Bill to keep it effective. There are many others reasons to update this law – see the next page for more! How to update the Bottle Bill? To update the law, the Legislature must pass a bill that would expand the containers covered under the law to include away-from-home beverage containers that are not carbonated, such as water, juice, sport drink, ice tea. The updated Bottle Bill would exclude milk beverages, medicines, and infant formula. MassRecycle supports updating the Bottle Bill to include only containers 1 liter (33.5 oz) or less. What happens to unclaimed deposits? When a bottle is not returned for deposit (e.g. discarded as trash or placed in a regular recycling bin), the unclaimed deposit currently goes to the state’s general fund. Proponents of the Updated Bottle Bill hope to designate a portion of the unclaimed bottle deposit revenue from bottles included in the updated bill for recycling related initiatives. Would this help the state’s budget problems? Yes. The state currently receives over $37 million per year in unclaimed deposits. It is expected that updating the Bottle Bill will generate an additional $15-20 million in revenue. How effective is the Bottle Bill? In How is MassRecycle working with municipalities across the state in supporting the Updated Bottle Bill? MassRecycle has approached all municipal leaders asking them to sign a resolution in support of updating the Massachusetts Bottle Bill. Has your community signed the resolution yet? Click here for more details. Take Action NOW – It is Easy!
Several Representatives and Senators have indicated support of the Updated Bottle Bill in a Sierra Club questionnaire. If your Representative or Senator is on this list, please call and thank them. It's easy! All you need to say is: "Hi, my name is Jane Smith and I wanted to thank Senator Jones for indicating support on the Updated Bottle Bill."
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