| Name | New York State Returnable Container Law |
| Purpose | Reduce litter, ease burden on solid waste facilities and encourage recycling activity |
| Enacted | 6/15/1982 |
| Date Implemented | 7/1/1983 |
| Beverages Covered | Carbonated soft drinks, soda water, beer and other malt beverages, wine products and water which does not contain sugar (this excludes flavored or nutritionally enhanced water from the program) |
| Containers Covered | 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 | 5¢ |
| Reclamation System | Retail stores and redemption centers |
| Handling Fee | 3.5¢ |
| Unredeemed Deposits | 80% to the State; dedicates $15 million to the state Environmental Protection Fund with the remaining unredeemed going to the state General Fund. 20% retained by deposit initiator (distributor) |
| Redemption Rate | 2019 - 64% 2018 - 64% 2017 - 65% [I] 2016 - 66% 2015 - 65% 2014 - 64% 2013 - 62% |
Details
No one shall sell or offer for sale a beverage container in New York unless a deposit has been collected by a deposit initiator that is registered with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. A deposit initiator must also make arrangements for the pick-up and processing of empty containers and pay dealers and redemption centers for the deposits and a 3.5 cent handling fee on each empty beverage container. Also requires deposit initiators to report quarterly on deposit collected and redeemed and to remit 80% of the unredeemed deposits to Taxation and Finance.
Footnotes
[I] Source: New York Department of Environmental Conservation, E-mail Communication with Jennifer Kruman (8/9/18)