More than 300 advocacy and environmental groups have written to New York Governor Kathy Hochul asking that she include updates to the state’s four-decade-old bottle bill as part of her 2026 agenda.
The groups are asking the governor to support modernization of the state’s Returnable Container Act, best known as “The Bottle Bill.”
Beyond Plastics Organizing Director Alexis Goldsmith notes that globally about 1 million plastic bottles are produced every minute, and the updated bottle bill is the best way to keep them out of the waste stream and the environment.
“The bill puts a deposit on more types of containers. The current law puts a deposit on containers by beverage type. And in 1982 there were a lot of beverages that didn’t exist and they don’t have a deposit even though they may be in the exact same container. Iced tea is a great example. If you take an iced tea bottle and a soda bottle it’s the exact same plastic but one has a deposit and one doesn’t. So the current bill will put a deposit on all beverage containers except for milk and one-hundred percent juice.”
New York Public Interest Research Group Senior Policy Advisor Blair Horner says the bottle bill has had no significant updates since it originally passed in 1982. Along with the increase in the deposit fee, he cites other important components to their proposal.
“There’s another part of the law that currently pays three-and-a-half cents per container to the redemption centers to handle redeemable deposits but that haven’t been brought back by the consumer. The bill increases that to help these redemption centers continue to thrive.”
Protect the Adirondacks’ Executive Director Claudia Braymer says a primary reason to support the bill is that it increases incentives for recycling.
“More containers helps to reduce trash going into our landfills. It helps to reduce litter across the Adirondacks and it’s also reducing the solid waste costs that are faced by the local municipalities that are in the Adirondacks.”
The group’s letter says updating the bottle bill would bring in “up to $100 million in additional revenues” if their proposed revisions pass. Goldsmith explains how.
“When somebody does not return their bottle and they don’t get their deposit back, that deposit goes into a fund. Eighty percent goes to the state and twenty percent goes back to the beverage manufacturers. Some of it goes into the Environmental Protection Fund up to a point and then the rest can be used for anything. The state will make money by expanding the bottle bill.”
Braymer says the fiscal implications to updating the bottle bill could help municipalities in the Adirondacks that have been struggling with solid waste issues. She points to one county as an example.
“Warren County right now is working on their solid waste program because their local municipalities were struggling to keep up with the cost of disposing of people’s trash. And all of the local communities have small budgets. They don’t have a lot of money to be putting towards the trash problem and it would be a benefit to their municipal budgets if we can keep the trash out of the landfills and keep it as a revenue stream going into the recycling system.”
In response to an email from WAMC asking if the governor would include revisions to the bottle bill in her proposed budget, Long Island Press Secretary Gordon Tepper replied: “The governor will unveil her upcoming legislative agenda and budget plan in January.”
