30 Jun 2023 --- The Massachusetts’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy is demanding the expansion and modernization of the state’s Bottle Bill program by raising the bottle deposit rate and including more beverage containers in the scheme. Currently, the Massachusetts system exclusively includes soda and beer bottles and cans, and the redeemable deposit is US$0.5. “It is behind most, if not all, of the nine other states that have bottle and can return systems in the US. Of course, Washington, DC and forty other states don’t have redemption laws at all, so we are ahead of them,” Kirstie Pecci, executive director at Just Zero, tells Packaging Insights. If signed into law, the bill would increase the bottle deposit to US$0.10 and add more types of beverage containers to the program, putting a deposit on water bottles, juice, hard seltzer, iced tea, coffee and sports drinks. The bill would also increase access to redemption points, making it easier and more convenient for consumers to return their empties.
