Raghib Allie-Brennan

Today, the House of Representatives acted to modernize Connecticut's bottle deposit program and encourage residents to recycle and keep our beautiful parks, beaches and streets clean.

Connecticut's original bottle bill was enacted in 1978 and was one of the most progressive anti-litter laws of its time. While the program worked extremely well in its early years, the law has since become outdated and return rates have dropped below 50%.

SB 1037, An Act Concerning Solid Waste Management, includes a number of provisions aimed at updating the bottle deposit program and increasing redemption, such as:

• Increases the redemption rate on beverage containers from 5 to 10 cents starting January 2024
• Requires certain retailers that sell beverage containers captured by the bottle program to have two reverse vending machines outside of their stores starting in October 2021
• Updates the types of beverage containers captured by the bottle program, such as containers for teas, juices, hard ciders, and hard seltzers
• Allocates $5 million through the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to create a grant program for new redemption centers in urban areas
• Creates a nickel surcharge on nip bottles, which are a major source of litter in towns across the state, at the point of sale. The money will be redistributed to Connecticut towns and cities to use to reduce waste and litter.

I am proud to support this legislation because it is a common-sense modernization of the bottle deposit program that will go a long way towards cleaning up our communities, reducing waste, and providing people in cities and towns across Connecticut with greater access to redemption facilities.