Of the 1.8 billion bottles and cans with deposits sold in one year in Connecticut, just under half, 46.8%, were redeemed.
The rate for April 2023 through March 2024, the most recent data available, is the highest it’s been since 2021. It dropped to a low of 42.2% last year then increased for two quarters in a row.
The data published by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, however, show that rates used to be well over 50% in the early 2010s. Even in the last quarter of 2019 before the pandemic began, at least half of all bottles sold were redeemed.
DEEP also publishes redemption rates for individual quarters, but since container sales tend to be higher in the summer months and may cause fluctuations in the data, DEEP provides rolling 4-quarter rates that smooth out any anomalies.
The redemption rate for the first quarter of 2024 was the highest it’s been since 2018 at 53.5%, the first time period in which bottles could be redeemed for 10 cents, an increase from 5 cents.
However, the 2024 first quarter also saw the lowest amount of container sales, 363 million, since the fourth quarter of 2019. The 2023 first quarter saw higher sales at 444 million containers while the subsequent two quarters saw over 500 million containers sold.
Compared to the other states, the 2022 redemption rate for Connecticut remained among the lowest, data compiled by Container Recycling Institute shows. Maine’s redemption rate was higher at 78%, in Vermont it was 72%, but in Massachusetts it was lower at 38%. The model for the country, Oregon, towered over the rest at 86%.
Since 2009, Connecticut residents have received over $568 million of their deposits back. The unredeemed funds go to the state or distributors. In 2023 alone, $42 million was returned to residents. As of March, the 2024 value was $19 million.
