Reimagining The Bottle Bill
March 15, 2022 | Reloop North America
On 15 March 2022, Reloop North America released the new report, Reimagining the Bottle Bill – an alternative to the present recycling system in five states in the northeastern United States - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. Implemented, it could fundamentally change our environmental trajectory.
How will this happen? Through a modernized Deposit Return System (DRS). A modernized DRS is accessible and accountable, industry financed, and well-managed and regulated. It will reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions by about 550,000 metric tons, save cities and towns between $111-$160 million, and create over 2,700 jobs.
Every year in the US, $5.1 billion in valuable and reclaimable beverage containers — glass, metal, and plastic — are wasted. In the Northeast alone, that means 403 containers wasted per person, per year.
The Northeast is warming faster than global average temperatures with plastic waste littering its coastlines and waterways – both issues that would be addressed by modernized DRSs.
