New NY 'Bottle Bill' would double deposit fee, expand beverages

Oct 17, 2023

A bill now in committee in the state Senate proposes increasing the bottle-return deposit from its current 5 cents to 10 cents.

You're used to paying a 5-cent deposit on cans of pop and bottles of beer. But if the so-called Bigger, Better Bottle Bill now being debated at the state level is successful, you'll soon be paying a 10-cent deposit, and on new beverages such as wine, liquor and sports drinks.

A bill now in committee in the State Senate proposes increasing the bottle-return deposit from its current 5 cents to 10 cents. It would add a deposit to bottles and cans of wine, liquor, distilled spirit coolers, and cider and wine products, as well as water with added sugar, non-carbonated soft drinks, non-carbonated fruit and vegetable juices containing less than 100% fruit or vegetable juice, coffee and tea beverages, and carbonated fruit beverages.

It would also increase the handling fee to 6 cents for processing the return. Now, beverage distributors pay 3.5 cents for each beverage container returned at a store, restaurant or bottle redemption center.

If passed, the law would begin phasing in next year.

Advocates of the bill said it would encourage people to recycle and encourage the recycling of more containers – thus keeping more glass and plastic out of landfills. It would also reduce litter and save municipalities money, they said.

Those who oppose the bill said it would create nightmare hardships for retailers, liquor stores, restaurants and manufacturers of the affected beverages.

Stores that don't currently accept bottle returns would have to find space and accommodations for empty bottles. That would be a major undertaking for places such as liquor stores, causing them to build out new space, reduce space now used for inventory, or add exterior space on their properties. Businesses that do take returns would have to find extra space for the added bottles and cans that would come in.

In addition to handling more bottles and cans, it will take increased labor to sort through the containers and send them back to the specific distributors they came from, businesses said. It would also take labor, money and expertise to change container labeling and set up new systems.

Automated machines that take bottle returns do not take wine bottles and other differently shaped containers, and it's not clear if they could be retrofitted to do so.

Addressing all of these changes would certainly result in increased prices for consumers, businesses said.

Ellie Grenauer owns Glen Park Tavern in Williamsville and is on the board of directors for the New York State Restaurant Association. She said measures like these make it harder to do business.

"I feel as though all of these small little charges in New York State just keep adding up," she said Sunday. "It makes it difficult."

Shoppers will see higher beverage prices if the changes go through, businesses said.

But consumers have reacted favorably to the bill, according to a statewide poll for the New York Public Interest Research Group by Siena College Research Institute.

The majority of those polled favored the expansion, with 71% in favor of adding new types of beverages to the law and 51% in favor of hiking the deposit fee to 10 cents.

The poll results were accompanied by a letter from 150 organizations – mostly environmental organizations and bottle return companies – urging the governor to include the wider bottle provisions in her executive budget. She did not.

Ann Marie Szczitka from West Seneca said she supports the bill, even if it ends up increasing beverage prices.

"I see too many bottles and cans in the garbage," she said Sunday.

The higher deposit would be "a good incentive" for more people to do their returns, she said.

"We return our bottles and cans now, but at 10 cents per container, the number of people who bring their recyclables back to the store would increase," she said.

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