Statement: Bigger, Better Bottle Bill Gains Majority Support in Senate

MASSPIRG

BOSTON – In a sign of the growing momentum for updating the state’s container deposit law, the campaign has announced that well over a majority of state senators have endorsed S.2149, sponsored by Senator Cindy Creem (Newton); a bill which would add water bottles and many other containers to the state’s bottle bill. Growing from a list of 14 senate endorsers just a couple of months ago, the most recent additions of Sens. Paul Feeney (Foxborough), John Velis (Westfield), and Michael Rush (Boston) add to the chorus of support for the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill (H.3289/S.2149). The bill received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy in January 2022, and is currently before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. 

The Better Bottle Bill, sponsored on the House side by Rep. Marjorie Decker (Cambridge), aims to modernize Massachusetts’ nearly 40 year-old Bottle Bill law. The new legislation would expand the Massachusetts Bottle Bill to include more types of beverage containers, like water bottles and “nips,” and it would increase the deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. The bill has been endorsed by 81 state legislators across both the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

Senator Cynthia Creem:

“I hear from my community every single day that they want to see our city, and our state, committed to environmental protection, reuse, and recycling. Updating our bottle bill is a simple and powerful way to reduce the trash and litter that comes from single use plastic and other types of beverage containers. It would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help the Commonwealth achieve its climate change obligations.”

Representative Marjorie Decker: 

“Reducing plastic in our environment is not just a climate issue, it’s a public health issue. It is time for public health to win, it is time for climate and the environment to win and that’s what is going to happen when we update this bill and we pass it.”

MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz :

“Every year more types of single use beverage containers come on to the market, and as a result every year there’s more litter and waste—because the law was written in 1983 when these ‘new age’ beverages did not exist. We need to bring the law into the 21st century so we can get deposits on these containers and get them off our streets and parks and out of our landfills and incinerators.” 

The list of Senate co-sponsors and endorsers is included below. 

*Legislative Co-Sponsors

Sen. Michael Brady; 2nd Plymouth and Bristol

Sen. Harriette Chandler; First Worcester *

Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz; 2nd Suffolk

Sen. Jo Comerford; Hampshire, Franklin & Worcester *

Sen. Cynthia Creem; 1st Middlesex and Norfolk *  (Chief Senate Sponsor) 

Sen. Brendan Crighton; 3rd Essex and Middlesex *

Sen. John Cronin; Worcester & Middlesex *

Sen. Julian Cyr; Cape and Islands *

Sen. Sal DiDomenico; Middlesex and Suffolk *

Sen. Diana DiZoglio; 1st Essex

Sen. Lydia Edwards; 1st Suffolk and Middlesex

Sen. James Eldridge; Middlesex and Worcester *

Sen. Paul Feeney; Bristol and Norfolk

Sen. Adam Hinds; Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden *

Sen. Patricia Jehlen; 2nd Middlesex *

Sen. John Keenan; Norfolk and Plymouth

Sen. Jason Lewis; 5th Middlesex *

Sen. Joan Lovely; 2nd Essex

Sen. Susan Moran; Plymouth and Barnstable *

Sen. Rebecca Rausch; Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex *

Sen. Michael Rush; Norfolk and Suffolk

Sen. Walter Timilty; Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth

Sen. John Velis; 2nd Hampden and Hampshire