Reimagining The Bottle Bill
The escalating climate crisis means we must act now. Deposit Return Systems (DRS) have been proven to be the most effective way to collect the necessary material for post-consumer recycled content use. When designed right a DRS can collect 90% of beverage containers, allowing that material to be recycled into new bottles.
Understanding Beverage Container Recycling
Recycling rates are declining, even though the tonnage recovered is relatively flat. Reasons for this include: the fact that growth is dominated by PET containers (with an emphasis on single-serve beverages often consumed away-from-home); increasing range of beverage types (that may complicate recycling education and/or may not be covered in recovery programs); the maturation of curbside and drop-off collection programs (i.e., few new programs are being added); declining support and funding for recycling; and the declining relative value of deposit amounts adopted in past years.