Below is a letter to the editor submitted by Ryan Barry a member of VSTEP (Vermont Students Toward Environmental Protection), calling for the Legislature to expand the Bottle Bill. VSTEP recently banned bottled water at the University of Vermont and they feel it’s time our elected officials do their part to promote recycling by expanding the State’s most effective recycling program to include all types of beverage containers.
We couldn’t agree more, and would like to personally thank VSTEP for all their hard work!
Follow Ryan’s lead and click here to write your own letter to the editor on the need to expand Vermont’s Bottle Bill.
Printed February 06, 2013 in the Burlington Free Press Opinions/Letters
I am a member of the Vermont Students Towards Environmental Protection, an environmental club at the University of Vermont. Our group initiated a campaign to ban bottled water after surveying students, the majority of whom expressed their support for a ban. We gathered student signatures to demonstrate support and petitioned the administration, who eventually approved the ban.
I am writing to express my support for the expansion of Vermont’s bottle bill. The bottle bill is Vermont’s most successful recycling program, achieving more than double the recycling rate of any other program in the state. As a student living in Burlington, I have frequently witnessed people collecting bottles around town, giving them a bit of money, recycling containers that would otherwise be trashed, and helping clean up our streets. Without the incentive of the deposit on these containers, this wouldn’t happen.
Polls show that four out of five Vermonters support the bottle bill and would like to see it expanded to include more beverages. Not only that, but expanding the bottle bill to cover more beverages would result in recycling an additional 100 million bottles and cans each year, while creating new local jobs.
I would like to personally thank Sen. David Zuckerman for co-sponsoring an expanded bottle bill and we encourage all Vermont legislators to follow his leadership.
RYAN BARRY
Burlington