New York Bottle Bill History

See Campaign History for the stories behind many of these changes.

 

  Original Law Chapter 146, 1983 1998 Amendment 2009 Amendment Current Law
Name New York State Returnable Container Law
Purpose Reduce litter, ease burden on solid waste facilities and encourage recycling activity
Enacted 6/15/1982 5/27/1983   4/7/2009  
Implemented 7/1/1983   12/1/1998 Delayed from original date of 6/1/2009 to 8/13/09 and 10/22/09  
Beverages Covered Beer, malt, carbonated soft drinks & mineral water, wine coolers     Adds bottled water (effective Oct. 22, 2009) Carbonated Soft Drinks, Soda Water, Beer and Other Malt Beverages, Wine Products and Water which does not contain sugar (including flavored or nutritionally enhanced water)
Containers Covered airtight metal, glass, paper, plastic, or combination of the above, under 1 gallon       An individual, separate, sealed glass, metal, aluminum, steel or plastic bottle, can or jar less than 1 gallon or 3.78 liters.
Amount of Deposit      
Redemption Rate     (beer 77.4%) (soft drink 61.6%); (overall 70.2%) [i] Overall: 67.8%
Beer: 76.5%
Soda: 58.7%
Wine: 77.1%j
2015 Overall (December 1, 2014 through November 30, 2015):65%j
Reclamation System Retail stores and redemption centers       Retail stores and redemption centers
Unredeemed Deposits Retained by distributor/ bottlers     80% to the state General Fund; 20% retained by distributor 80% to the state General Fund; 20% retained by distributor
Handling Fee 20% of refund value: 1¢ Changed to 1.5¢ Changed to 2¢ 3.5¢ 3.5¢
View Legislation     Law through June 1, 2009 Senate Bill 59 Current Law
Notes         Requires reporting of containers sold and redeemed by bottlers and distributors

Footnotes

[j] Source: New York Department of Environmental Conservation E-mail Communication with Jennifer Kruman (1/26/15)