Chances are, if you're reading this toolkit, you already know a little bit about bottle bills. Maybe your state has one and you'd like to see it expanded to cover more container types. Maybe you've lived in or visited a bottle bill state and have seen the impact on litter. Maybe you’ve heard or read about them or learned about them in school.
The "Get the Facts" section of the Bottle Bill toolkit is designed to help you educate yourself and others, and to be able to make your case for a deposit law in your state legislature. This section provides you with background information including the history of bottle bills in various states as well as the benefits and issues surrounding bottle bills.
One thing is certain, bottle bills, like many other good pieces of legislation, do not win on their merits alone. Knowing the facts will not guarantee passage of a bottle bill, but you can’t win the battle unless you are armed with the facts. You should also know that bottle bill opponents are very adept at stretching and twisting the truth and have been know to be untruthful in their statements.
The Container Recycling Institute’s Bottle Bill Resource Guide is a website dedicated to keeping people informed and up-to-date about container deposit laws. There you can find a plethora of information on bottle bills across the U.S. and all over the world. Or simply browse the links below to brush up on the topics that interest you. (All external links open in a new window.)
| The definition of a deposit law | A container deposit law requires a minimum refundable deposit on beverage containers, in order to insure a high rate of recycling or reuse. Learn more... | |
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| How container deposit systems work | Retailers pay deposits to the distributor for each can or bottle purchased. Consumers pay the deposit to the retailer when buying the beverage. When the consumer returns the empty beverage container, the deposit is refunded. The retailer recoups the deposit from the distributor. More details... | |
| Benefits of bottle bills | Litter and waste reduction, economic benefits including jobs and more efficient recycling programs, environmental benefits, popularity with the public... We could go on and on... | |
| History of bottle bills | In 1971, Oregon passed the first bottle bill in the United States, requiring refundable deposits on all beer and soft drink containers. Currently eleven states and eight Canadian provinces have beverage container deposit laws. More info ... | |
| Deposit laws vary from location to location | There are eleven states, eight provinces, and numerous countries with container deposit laws--And no two of those laws are exactly alike. | |
| Bottle Bill Myths and Facts | We'll get into this more when we talk about knowing the opposition, but if you were wondering how to defend your case against bottle bill opponents, it's good to know their arguments. Learn more... | |
| State-specific data | Find out how much a bottle bill will benefit your state. The Beverage Market Data Analysis shows current sales, recycling, and wasting, for any US state, and gives hypothetical information about how that could change if a bottle bill were enacted. Get a BMDA... | |
| So you want to get a bottle bill enacted in your state! | This entire Toolkit is, in fact, a resource for those who want to get a bottle bill enacted. However, if you're looking for a quick overview of what to expect, look no further! | |