Bill change should keep 500 million plastic bottles out of the state's trash
Adding plastic water bottles to Connecticut’s bottle bill law – effective Oct. 1, 2009 – is expected to remove about 500 million of these ubiquitous plastic containers from the trash, not to mention roadways and sports fields.
And because water bottles are now covered by this bill, there will be a 5 cent deposit charged, which can be redeemed when the bottle is returned, just like soda and beer containers.
It’s also estimated that unclaimed deposits will return an estimated $17 million to the state.
Exemptions to the amended bill include:
- water bottles or other noncarbonated water beverage products in containers 3 liters or larger,
- containers made from high-density polyethylene
- and containers produced by manufacturers who bottle and sell less than 250,000 noncarbonated beverage containers a year and who obtain an exemption from the Department of Environmental Protection.
In a statement announcing the law’s change, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said today, “For almost 30 years, our bottle bill has kept billions of bottles and cans of soda or beer from our landfills. Now we can build on that success by diverting even more plastic out of our waste stream.”
Adding on water bottles and other noncarbonated beverages to the bill is the first major change in the state’s bottle bill that was established on Jan. 1, 1980.
Connecticut is one of 11 states in the nation (including California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont) that requires deposits on beverage containers.
For more information on the bottle bill changes or about recycling in Connecticut, visit www.ct.gov/dep and click on the Materials and Waste Management link.
Posted Sept. 29, 2009
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