New York's Extended Bottle Bill to Begin Nov. 8
New York officials are giving retailers a "grace period" to comply with the extended Bottle Bill, which requires a 5-cent refundable deposit on containers of less than 1 gallon of certain types of waters, according to Department of Environmental Conservation spokesperson Maureen Wren.
The waters include flavored water and nutritionally enhanced water that contains zero grams of sugar.
The New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) is spreading the word that the extended Bottle Bill begins Nov. 8 instead of Oct. 31. NYSAR3 has been advocating this update to New York's Bottle Bill to provide an incentive for people to recycle beverage containers that did not previously have a return deposit.
"Right now, less than 20 percent of these bottles are being recycled. Instead, most of them end up in the trash or discarded along beaches, parks, and roadways," said Dianne Woske, president of NYSAR3. "Statistics show that the recycling return rate with the Bottle Bill is an average of 70 percent. So, the extended bottle bill will be an easy way to both improve our environment and generate revenue."
Since it was enacted in 1982, the Bottle Bill has been New York's most successful recycling and litter prevention program. Over the past 25 years, more than 90 billion bottles and cans have been returned and recycled through the Bottle Bill, and more than six million tons of plastic, glass and metal have been kept out of landfills and incinerators.