MASSPIRG makes itself useful: update the MA "bottle bill"

[skids]

Sometimes the best activist ideas are no-brainers.

They need contributions, LTTEs, and letters to representatives on this ASAP. If they get this through there will be pressure for the rest of the region to follow suit.

In 1982, the Bottle Bill was passed into law, creating a container deposit program in Massachusetts. Nearly twenty-five years later, it remains the most effective recycling program in the commonwealth, with almost 70 percent of containers redeemed, and thus kept out of our landfills and incinerators. But now it's time for a bigger, better Bottle Bill, one that would bring the program into the 21st century by adding many types of containers that weren't around when the law was crafted in the 1980s, like bottled water and sports drinks. There's a bill pending in the Legislature to finally give the Bottle Bill the update it needs.

...

The proposed update would expand the container deposit system to include "new age" drinks such as non-carbonated beverages, water, iced tea, juice, and sports drinks such as Gatorade. It would add approximately $12 million to state revenue via projected unclaimed deposits -- plus even more by alleviating financial pressure on cities and towns by lowering their trash and litter collection costs.

http://www.masspirg.org/issues/healthy-communities/reduce-reuse-recycle