Overview
The Bottle Bill was passed into law in 1982 as
the result of a popular referendum campaign. This was the first statewide
recycling program in Massachusetts,
and it remains our most successful recycling program.
Here’s how it works: When a retailer in Massachusetts buys beverages from a
distributor, a five-cent deposit is paid to the distributor for each can or
bottle purchased. When buying a beverage, the consumer pays the deposit to the
retailer. The five-cent deposit is refunded when the consumer returns the empty
beverage container to the retail store, a redemption center or a reverse
vending machine. The retailer recovers the deposit from the distributor, plus
an additional handling fee of $0.225 for handling the empty bottles and cans. The
end result: containers end up recycled and reused instead of thrown away.
Not all consumers redeem their containers for the deposit. In Massachusetts,
distributors and bottlers are required to turn over unclaimed deposits to the
state. These funds used to go to the state’s Clean Environment Fund, which
supported local and statewide recycling efforts.
Now we need to update the Bottle Bill: so that the deposit covers new
containers, so that the handling fee is increased, and so that we can restore
the Clean Environment Fund. Read more.
