Your Voice Needed In Support of an Expanded “Bottle Bill” SB1289 3/28/07

You helped us succeed in the Environment Committee – now it’s onto the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. Please add your voice in support of Senate Bill 1289 An Act Concerning The Expansion Of The Beverage Container Redemption Provisions. This bill adds bottled water and non-carbonated beverages (excluding dairy), e.g., sport drinks and iced teas,  to the beverage container redemption-recycling program and increases the deposit to ten cents. SB 1289 is consistent with the Department of Environmental Protection’s new solid waste management plan that calls for reducing the amount of waste generated - in part by dramatically increasing the target rate of statewide recycling from 30% to 58%.  The bill passed in the Environment Committee by a vote of 22-8. Now the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee needs to hear from you.

See Talking Points Below.

The League hopes that with your help, the third time will be the charm! This bill failed the first year, and was not called for a vote last year. Please email:

The Members of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee via the CT Assembly website at www.cga.ct.gov, click on committees, then click on Finance, then membership And  also email

House Speaker Jim Amann Jim.Amann@cga.ct.gov  

Or Call :

Senate Democrats(860) 240-8600 or 1-800-842-1420

Senate Republicans(860) 240-8800 or 1-800-842-1421

House Democrats(860) 240-8585 or 1-800-842-8267

House Republicans(860) 240-8787 or 1-800-842-8270

Talking Points courtesy of CT Audubon:

Opponents have argued, among other things, that curbside recycling is sufficient and no expanded redemption is needed. However, DEP’s newly adopted Solid Waste Management Plan states simply and clearly "There is not enough disposal capacity in-state to handle all the Connecticut solid waste requiring disposal." (SW Management Plan Dec. 2006, Executive Summary pg 9)  The plan projects that if we maintain the current 30% diversion rate, by 2024 we will be shipping approximately 1.5 million tons of waste out of state annually. (SW Management Plan Dec. 2006, Executive Summary pg 5)  

The Plans says Connecticut must increase its current recycling rate to 58% by 2024

There are only two ways to increase recycling:  (1) raise taxes and  (2) update the bottle bill to include non-carbonated beverages.

• Redemption Recycling enjoys a 70% return rate, provides buyers of recycled material with a higher quality product that they are willing to pay higher prices for, and does not cost the taxpayers anything.

• In contrast, curbside recycling, where available, is either fully funded or subsidized by taxpayers, and the product is not as highly valued by buyers. Additionally, the best recycling towns in CT have yet to reach 30% recycling rate, less than half the rate of the deposit-redemption program. 

• Curbside Recycling works well for products consumed at home, like mayonnaise jars and ketchup bottles.

• Redemption Recycling works best for beverages, because they are usually consumed away from home – at work, at school, at the gym, on the playing field, hiking, biking, etc.

• Deposits encourage the “unofficial litter patrol” to pick up and redeem littered bottles and cans.  Adding non-carbonated beverages to the list of redeemables will save taxpayers the cost of cleaning up and disposing of litter.  

• Connecticut taxpayers have no control over the costs of out-of-state disposal fees, or the high cost of fuel to transport waste out of Connecticut.  

• Curbside Recycling competes with other municipal services for limited tax dollars, including schools, roads, senior citizens, and more.  Why raise taxes when you can increase recycling through redemption that doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything?

The growth in non-carbonated beverage consumption has outpaced other drinks.  In 2005, Connecticut consumers bought 426 million bottles of water!!  (Container Recycling Institute presentation to CGA 3/8/2007) All of those bottles could have been recycled, tax-free, if we had updated our bottle deposit law. Act now by supporting SB1289!

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