VPIRG has officially launched our Bigger, Better, Bottle Bill Campaign with the release of polling results revealing overwhelming support for the Bottle Bill, the state’s most successful recycling program. It turns out the Bottle Bill is right up there with motherhood and apple pie in terms of its popularity with Vermonters!
According to our polling data, more than 90% of Vermonters support the bottle bill, and more than 85% of Vermonters favor updating the law to include water bottles, sports drinks, and other non-carbonated beverages.
And it’s no wonder the Bottle Bill is supported so widely – nearly 80% of those surveyed had redeemed bottle deposits.
When the Bottle Bill was enacted in 1972, bottled water, sports drinks, and other “new age” beverages were uncommon, but have since grown significantly, adding to the amount of waste filling our landfills and littering our environment. Updating the law to include these containers would potentially capture more than 82 million additional bottles and cans per year, keeping them out of landfills and off of our roadsides.
Even though updating the Bottle Bill is overwhelmingly supported by Vermonters, there’s a real chance this effort could be stopped in its tracks by corporate lobbyists.