The Bottle Bill is our most effective recycling program in the state, and after being around for 37 years, we’re pretty familiar with how it works. But the bottle industry is lobbying for us to dismantle it and replace it with curbside recycling programs and taxes, which would waste much of the value to be found in recycling.
Materials collected under the bottle bill program produce recycled products over 60 percent more valuable than glass and plastic collected through the alternative curbside recycling programs. This is largely because redemption centers do the laborious work of removing contaminants such as paper and cardboard, creating high quality PET plastic that is $120 per ton more valuable than that of curbside recycling programs.
It may surprise people to know that Connecticut legislators are considering repealing the Bottle Bill and replacing the deposit with a non-refundable bottle tax. Doing so would eliminate one of Connecticut’s most successful environmental programs and result in more litter in our communities.
Save the Bottle Bill and keep litter off our streets! Let’s keep creating value instead of wasting it.