Updating the Bottle Bill

Stop Litter, Increase Recycling

For over a decade, MASSPIRG and a large and diverse coalition have been calling for an update of the Bottle Bill. After the more than $9 million spent by bottlers and the waste industry defeated this proposal on the November 2014 ballot, we still believe it sets the standard for effective recycling programs and are organizing support for a new bill (H.2875/S.1752), sponsored by Representative Gloria Fox (Boston) and Senator Cynthia Creem (Newton), that aims to increase the recylcing rates of all beverage containers to the high level of deposit containers.

WHAT THE BILL DOES

Provides for a six-year waiting period to see if the alternative recycling methods proposed by the bottling industry have succeeded. As of 2013, 80% of containers with a deposit were recycled, but only 23% of containers without a deposit (like water bottles and sports drinks) were recycled.
If, after six years, that 23%, as tracked by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) doesn’t get within five percentage points of 80%, container deposits will be enacted for water bottles and sports drinks.

WHY THE BILL IS IMPORTANT

If we passed a bottle bill update, it would:

Save cities and towns $7 million a year in litter pick-up and trash disposal, resulting in cleaner streets and parks.
Save energy and oil from being wasted. It takes 50 million barrels of oil to produce PET water bottles for the US alone.
Create jobs! A 2012 report by MASSPIRG and the Sierra Club estimated that 1,500 jobs would be created by updating the bottle bill.

BOTTLE BILL FACTS

In Massachusetts, beverage containers compose 15.2% of solid waste by volume.
Container deposit laws have been shown to decrease beverage container litter by over 80% and decrease total litter by over 40%.

News Release | MASSPIRG | Solid Waste

MASSPIRG, Coalition File to Put Updated Bottle Bill on Ballot

Today we are filing today a ballot initiative known as the Updated Bottle Bill. This proposed law would add water, juice, sports drinks and other beverages to the existing 5-cent deposit law. When this measure becomes law, there will be less litter, more recycling, and millions of taxpayer dollars saved in the reduced cost of waste disposal in our cities and towns.

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News Release | MASSPIRG | Solid Waste

12,000 Bay Staters Tell DEP: Enforce the Waste Bans

In just over one month’s time, the consumer advocacy group MASSPIRG (Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group) has collected over 12,000 signatures calling on Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell to sign a pledge to crack down on violators of Massachusetts’ longstanding waste bans.

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Video Blog | Solid Waste

Jimmy Tingle & the Battle for the Updated Bottle Bill

Perhaps the most fun we've ever had at a political rally, Jimmy Tingle's "Battle for the Bottle Bill" is now online for your viewing pleasure.

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News Release | MASSPIRG | Solid Waste

Group Spotlights Waste Ban Violations, Calls for Enforcement

"It's time to get more 'cops' on the beat," commented Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG, which is collecting signatures on petitions asking DEP Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell to step up enforcement of the waste bans. "Garbage is a big business in Massachusetts, and it's clear that landfills, incinerators, waste haulers and big waste generators are flaunting these regulations." Although there is significant evidence of large scale violations of these waste bans, the DEP has only issued a handful of penalties over the past few years.

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News Release | MASSPIRG | Solid Waste

Senate passes Updated Bottle Bill

“It’s high time to update the Bottle Bill,” said Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG. “We’ve been pushing for this update for a long time, but the bottlers and big beverage industry lobbyists have been pushing back. We are now optimistic that with the support of the Senate, and Governor Patrick, the House will move quickly to adopt this amendment.”

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News Release | MASSPIRG | Solid Waste

Advisory: Hearing on Updated Bottle Bill

On Wednesday, July 20, MASSPIRG will hold a press conference outside the State House at 9:30 a.m., to be followed by a legislative hearing on the Updated Bottle Bill.

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Media Hit | Solid Waste

The Berkshire Eagle - Bill would extend deposit to more bottles

Litterbugs and waste mongers will get a fresh incentive to take bottles and cans to recycling centers across the state under a series of amendments to the state's "bottle bill." New legislation to update the 24-year-old bottle bill would add a 5 cent deposit to noncarbonated beverages, such as iced tea, sports drinks, fruit juices and bottled water. Bottles used for dairy products, instant formula, and FDA-approved medicines would remain off the list.

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Media Hit | Solid Waste

Lowell Sun - Debate flows on opening bottle-bill deposit to more beverages

Litterbugs and waste mongers would get a fresh incentive to take bottles and cans to recycling centers across the state under a series of amendments to the state's "bottle bill." New legislation to update the 24-year-old bottle bill would add a 5-cent deposit to about 700 million non-carbonated beverages, such as iced tea, sports drinks, fruit juices and bottled water.

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News Release | MASSPIRG

New Report shows what Bay Staters are trying to fix

BOSTON -- While New Englanders’ thriftiness is alive and well, a new report released today by the MASSPIRG Education Fund, “What are Bay Staters Trying to Fix?” chronicles some big obstacles in their way. The report analyzes data from the popular repair website iFixit.com and looks at what items people in Massachusetts are trying to fix, and why that can be harder than it should be.

Report | MASSPIRG

What are Bay Staters Fixing?

Here in Massachusetts, we want to fix our stuff.

Something breaks, or doesn’t work right. You could throw it away, but you don’t want to be wasteful so you try to figure out how to get it fixed.

According to a review of data from iFixit, a self-described “repair guide for everything, written by everyone,” 1.6 million unique users from Massachusetts went onto their website www.ifixit.com to look up how to repair something in 2018. That’s about 23 percent, nearly 1 in 4 Massachusetts residents.

Looking more closely into that data from iFixit, the top ten device types that Bay Staters attempted to fix were cell phones, laptops, automobiles, desktop computers, gaming consoles, tablets, clothing, watches, wireless speakers and iPods. Cell phone repair guides were by far the most popular, receiving 26 percent of all the page views.

Blog Post

"Reduce" comes first: MASSPIRG testifies on behalf of state ban on polystyrene food containers

If a plastic product is rarely reused, and virtually never recycled, then reduce is the only way to go.

News Release | MASSPIRG

Statement on the Massachusetts Plastic Bag Bill reported out of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture

As advocates for clean air, clean water, open space, public health, and a sustainable future, we are profoundly discouraged by the plastic bag bill that has been reported out of the Legislature's Joint Environment Committee.

Blog Post