Groups Push Bottle Bill Expansion, Local Retailers Mixed

In a move that supporters say sends "a strong signal that cities and towns want this bill to move forward," the Massachusetts Municipal Association and Metropolitan Area Planning Council on Wednesday both endorsed legislation updating the state's beverage-container deposit law. The "better bottle bill," filed by Rep. Marjorie Decker and Sen. Cindy Creem, would increase the bottle deposit from its current five cents to 10 cents and add more types of beverage containers to the program, putting a deposit on water bottles, vitamin drinks, nips and bottles for other drinks that weren't contemplated when the initial law was adopted in the early 1980s. At that time, apple juice bottlers in north and central Massachusetts lobbied hard to keep the focus on soft drinks and beer, not their products.

"Removing more bottles from the municipal waste stream saves cities and towns money, while allowing customers to get a little money back," MAPC Executive Director Marc Draisen said. "Many of the containers covered by this proposal didn't even exist when I first lobbied for the Bottle Bill 40 years ago. It's time to move this law into the 21st century." Both House and Senate versions of the bill (H 3289, S 2149) were referred to the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee. The panel endorsed Creem's bill last month and advanced it to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, while it is pursuing an extension order allowing it until May 2 to vote on Decker's. MASSPIRG announced the two municipal groups' support for the bill, saying the MMA and MAPC join a list of 75 organizations and 16 businesses that have endorsed the policy. "Passage now would bring immediate results, with higher re-use and recycling of plastic and glass containers, cleaner roads and parks, and substantial savings for city and town budgets – the bill is a winner on every level," MMA executive director Geoff Beckwith said.

The Pros and the Cons

Locally, the three retailers reached before deadline today, had mixed views on the planned changes. Bob Vozzella of La Cantina Winery is mostly positive. “This bill would not apply to me as wine bottles do not have a deposit,” he said. “If it will clean up the streets of littered nip bottles, I am all for it,” he said.

Joseph DeGaetano, owner of Ferrara’s Market, a retailer of Italian food products and wines on West Central Street, said, “Why not, I don’t think it will hurt us and it would make sense if it applies to the wine bottles, too.”

But Mark C. Lenzi, owner of Franklin Liquors, questions the expansion in scope. “As for the liquor miniatures [nips], these have been very controversial as people see it as a major trash issue on streets and its leading to bans and bottle deposit ideas,” he said. In his view, including nips “would be a disaster” because retailers need to sort by brand when they accept returns. “Imagine that with all the brands of nips,” he said. He predicts that people will collect the little bottles and they will become “basically trash” because there is no machines designed to recycle them due to their small size.

Lenzi also takes a “follow the money” approach. “You know when you buy something with a state deposit, if you don't return it the state gets the money,” he observed. “So, the state would love to expand what's on the list and increase [the fee] as they know the return is low,” he added.

According to Lenzi, few consumers bother to return their containers, “and it’s really a dirty process, because consumers rarely clean the containers before returning them and they then have to be sorted by hand or fed into a machine,” said Lenzi.

“Take a look at the box stores and the machine areas; they are very dirty,” he said. So, in Lenzi’s view, where towns have curbside recycling, “that is the best and most efficient way to recycle with higher return rates.”

At present a total of 10 US states have bottle deposit laws.

IMAGE at top of article: 12.5% ABV canned wine showing Iowa 5c and Maine 15c signifying these are subject to these states' container deposit legislation. (Graywalls, Creative Commons License)