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Bill filed in Massachusetts legislature to increase bottle deposits to 10 cents, expand to more beverage containers

Rex Roof, flickr
Advocates say the 40-year-old container deposit law in Massachusetts needs updating because five cents is not enough incentive for people to return a soda can or bottle, so more are ending up in the trash.

The state's current "Bottle Bill" is 40-years-old

Among the thousands of bills filed in the Massachusetts Legislature by last Friday’s deadline to be acted upon in this session is an update to the container deposit law, better known as the “bottle bill.”

This new legislation would increase the deposit from five to 10 cents and expand the types of beverages covered by the program.

It has been 40 years since the original bottle bill passed in Massachusetts and environmental advocates have pushed for the last two decades, at least, to modernize it.

One of the advocates is Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MassPIRG. She spoke with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.