Vermont’s House of Representatives passed an important piece of legislation on Friday that updates the state’s container redemption program known commonly as the Bottle Bill. The legislation, H.175, expands the Bottle Bill program to include wine and non-carbonated drinks like water, iced tea, sports drinks, and juice.
Under the current Bottle Bill system, Vermonters pay an extra nickel for every bottle or can of beer or soda purchased and get the money back when they return the empty container. The program has been an incredible success since it was passed in 1972. Not only has it reduced litter, but it has also been responsible for recycling more than 10 billion beverage containers.
In recent years, however, Vermont has begun to fall behind other states that have kept pace with the development of new beverages like teas and sports drinks, and water in single serving plastic bottles. For instance, Vermont’s Bottle Bill covers only 46% of the beverage containers sold here, while Maine’s law covers 91 percent. Nearly every Bottle Bill state has updated its program to include more containers than Vermont, including Oregon, Hawaii, California, New York, and Connecticut, all covering at least 77% of beverages sold in their states.
Vermonters love the Bottle Bill and are ready to update it. In fact, a recent poll found that 88% of Vermonters support the current law. Support for updating the law to cover more beverages like sports drinks, water bottles and wine was also incredibly strong, with 83% in favor of expansion and just 15% opposing it.
Public support for updating the Bottle Bill in Vermont is solid across the political spectrum, and the nation’s biggest recyclers of glass, aluminum and PET plastic support it as well.
We applaud the House for passing this legislation. Legislators deserve credit for rejecting the dishonest tactics of the beverage giants and Vermont’s waste industry in advancing this bill.