Resources
- New York Bottle Bill in the News
- Look up New York bills
- New York's existing deposit law
- New York Campaign History
Announcements
- Responsibilities of distributors under the 2009 amendments [pdf,106kb]
- Bigger Better Bottle Bill part of Spitzer's Tax Cut Plan
- DiNapoli's Bigger Better Bottle Bill passes assembly - From environmental committee newsletter, December 2005
Polls and Surveys
- 2007 Litter Survey [PDF,696kb]
- Survey of New York Registered Voters: Attitudes Toward New York's Bottle Bill and Proposed Reforms By Public Policies Associates, Inc., February 2004
- Poll summary [pdf,148KB]
Reports
- Campaign Contributions and Lobbying Expenditures Keep Bigger Better Bottle Bill Bottled Up in Albany [PDF, 508 Kb] June 2004
- Scenic Hudson's Litter Sweep - June 2002
Policy Statements/ Persuasive tools
- Letter from NY Environmental Groups to legislators on amendments to the bottle law - May 2009
- Better Bottle Bill: There's still time to sign! [YouTube video] March 2008
- CRI Statement in Support of Expanding the Bottle Bill [PDF,98kb] February 2007
- Plastic Bottle Recycling in New York State [pdf] April 2006
- Rebuttals to arguments against the bottle bill [pdf,86kb] April 2006
- CRI Testimony in Albany [PDF,113Kb] January 2004
- What's Wrong With New York's Bottle Bill? [PDF,364Kb] CRI Presentation at NYFSWA Conference, May 2003
- Put the Bottle Bill to work for New York [pdf,108Kb] March 2003
- CRI's Sample Resolution Urging the New York State Legislature to enact an updated and expanded Bottle Bill [PDF,62kb] 2003
Events
- Tom Suozzi cleans up litter in support of the Bigger Better Bottle Bill - May 2008
- Can & Bottle Collectors demand their rights! [PDF,119kb] April 2005
New York
2011 Bills
In addition to a bill to expand New York's deposit law, which has been introduced almost every year since 1995, this year also features a bill reducing the number of redemption centers required in stores, and another changing the requirements for beverage companies that use refillable bottles.
Refillables Bill
This bill would allow distributors of refillable bottles to keep all of the deposits on their unreturned containers rather than remitting 80% of them to the state as present law requires.| Bill Number and Name | S 3496  Bill text |
|---|---|
| Primary Sponsor | Senator Grisanti |
| Containers Covered | Refillable bottles |
Details
According to Laura Haight of NYPIRG:
This legislation is being pushed by Sam Adams, which claims to be the only beer company in NY truly dedicated to using refillable bottles. ...
This makes sense, because refillable bottles cost more to produce, and when they are not returned the bottler must replace them with new ones. It is possible that this small incentive might encourage other bottlers to use refillable bottles in New York, esp. some of the microbreweries. There are still some refillable soda bottles sold in New York as well, such as College Club Beverages in Rochester.
Progress
February 23, 2011: Referred to Environmental Conservation
March 8, 2011: Reported and committed to Finance
Expansion bill
| Bill Number and Name | A 3630 Bill text |
|---|---|
| Sponsors | Englebright |
| Beverages Covered | Add fruit juices, ice tea beverages, milk, wine and liquor |
Details
This bill expands the deposit law to cover fruit juices, iced tea, milk, wine, and liquor. It also defines a beverage container as a container which can be refilled at least 25 times.
While the campaign to expand New York's deposit law has been ongoing for over a decade, a new development this year is the amendment of the state's solid waste plan to support the expansion effort. Specifically stated, "To support enhanced materials recovery and revenue generation, DEC will advance proposed legislation to expand the Returnable Container Law to include all beverage containers."1
Contacts
RVM Bill
| Bill Number and Name | S 2877 Bill text |
|---|---|
| Sponsors | Sen. GRISANTI |
Details
Under New York's existing law, chain stores above 40,000 square feet are required to operate a certain number of reverse vending machines proportional to their size. This bill clarifies that only square footage dedicated to sales and display counts toward this requirement. It generally reduces the number of machines required for each size bracket. Also describes additional circumstances by which a store can be exempt from the requirement.
Progress
February 2, 2011: Referred to Environmental Conservation
March 8, 2011: Reported and committed to Commerce, Economic Development, and Small Business
Contacts
Footnotes
1. Source: Excerpt from solid waste management plan. "10.1.4 Expand the Returnable Container Law." Courtesy of Laura Haight
