The proposed Massachusetts state budget for the 2015 fiscal year does not expand the state’s bottle bill. So barring an 11th-hour agreement, the issue could be decided by voters.
Supporters of an expanded bottle bill want a five cent deposit charged on beverages such as bottled water and sports drinks, which they say will increase recycling rates in Massachusetts. Phil Sego of the Sierra Club of Massachusetts says this would add to the deposit already tacked onto most carbonated drinks.
“And that’s worked incredibly well and that’s what we want to do is extend that same system to the newer beverages that didn’t exist 30-years ago when the bottle bill was originally passed,” Sego says.
But Chris Flynn of the Massachusetts Food Association, a group of retailers, says he’d rather see more curbside pickup of bottles and cans instead of getting retailers more involved in recycling
“The bottle law is outdated,” Flynn says. We need to build up our comprehensive recycling infrastructure and not take out more containers from the recycling stream and drag them back to food stores where they shouldn’t be brought in the first place.”
Supporters for a ballot question in November. The deadline to turn in those names to the state is Wednesday.