New York State Beer Wholesalers Association

Tell your lawmakers to say no to expansion of the Bottle Bill

Bottle Bill Expansion – The Truth

Currently there is a $0.05 deposit on beer and soda. The proposed law would add a $0.05 deposit to water, sports drinks, juice, including baby juice, and teas. The claim is that expansion will clean up New York, but consider that containers make up less than 2.5% of waste generated in homes and businesses across the State.

If cleaning up New York is the goal, wouldn’t it make more sense to implement Real Recycling Reform, a program that would address all litter? The beverage industry supports Real Recycling Reform. Why are “environmentalists” focused solely on containers? Is it really about the environment?

•	Expensive Expansion
•	The Nickel Myth
•	Sanitation
•	Inconvenience
•	Environment
•	Solution – Real Recycling Reform

Expensive Expansion

An additional $0.15 tax will be added per container increasing the cost of a case by $3.60. A case of water pre-expansion costs around $5.99. This same case post-expansion will cost $9.59. Only $1.20 is refundable. The remaining $2.40 is the increase the beverage industry has to impose to make up for the State’s seizure of the unredeemed deposits.

Say NO to more taxes – TAKE ACTION NOW!

The Nickel Myth

Myth: Unredeemed nickels are a windfall of cash for the beverage industry.

Fact: The unredeemed nickels allow for the beverage industry to comply with the recycling mandates of the initial deposit law without raising prices any further. Beverage companies use the unredeemed nickels to fund the costs of drivers and trucks to pick up the empty containers at retail locations, as well as the expenses of labor (health benefits and salaries), along with facilities to unload, sort, and process the containers. If these unredeemed nickels are taken away, consumer prices will rise to make up the difference.

Speak out against expansion - Contact your lawmakers NOW!

Sanitation

Most of the time the redemption area is located right outside the produce section, and in some smaller retailers, the redemption area is in the store. The proposed law specifically states that washing containers is not required, but is strongly recommended. Picture thousands of additional sugar and/or syrup-based beverages being redeemed to an already overwhelmed store. How will a retailer keep up to code? How will this affect your groceries?

Your grocer is not a garbage dump – Say NO to expansion!

Inconvenience

Waiting in line to redeem your plastic, aluminum, and glass containers may already take up more time than you would like, or have. Expanding the bottle bill will only add to that time due to the unique packaging of most water, juice, and sports drink containers – these containers will not be accepted by the existing machines. You will have to wait to have these unique containers hand-sorted and hand-counted. Wouldn’t it be easier to recycle all of your containers in one bin?

Take back your time – oppose Expansion!

Environment

Beverage containers account for less than 2.5% of municipal waste generated in homes and businesses in New York. At best, the proposed expansion that calls to include beverages such as bottled water, iced teas, sports drinks, and juice would increase the state’s recycling rate by less than 0.2% -- a barely measurable change given today’s 30% overall rate.

Expansion is not the solution – ACT NOW!

Solution – Real Recycling Reform (RRR)

Through RRR all recyclables and litter will be addressed, not only beverage containers, through an expansion of curbside recycling. The expansion of curbside programs would make it more convenient and more cost-effective for citizens to participate. Convenience is created by providing a single place to recycle all materials. Cost-effectiveness is a result of your average curbside program costing $125 for each ton of material recovered, as compared to at least $500 per ton for deposit initiatives. And through RRR, local communities would benefit from revenue earned from materials formerly recycled through the bottle bill.

If cleaning up New York and increasing recycling rates is the goal, why wouldn’t environmentalists support Real Recycling Reform?

Say NO to expansion and YES to Real Recycling Reform