Bottle Bill Status

(Updated Thursday April 10, 2008)

April 10, 2008

On March 19, 2008, the last day before unresolved bills could have been acted upon by the legislature, the Joint Telecommunications & Energy Committee reported the bill out "to study." This is a legislative term that roughly translates to "discarded". While the bottle bill update could be taken out of this trash bin, it will require more support. As there would be $15 million revenue from escheatage (forfeited deposits), in this period of budget shortfall, there has been renewed interest.

Status: October 31, 2007

A press conference and rally was held at the State House entrance. Rep. Douglas Petersen, Rep. Alice Wolf, Sen. Cynthia Creem, James W Hunt III (Chief of Environmental and Energy Services for the City of Boston), Cambridge City Councillor Brian Murphy, Sierra Club Director James McCaffrey, and MASSPIRG Exec Director Janet Domenitz addressed the crowd. Also present were Depo and Nogo, our talking beverage containers.

The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy heard the bill on Oct 31, 2007. The testimony was overwhelmingly in favor of the update - the room was filled to capacity with supporters. The industry gave their longtime arguments that the system is too costly (1.7 cents per beverage container) and that curbside is better (although curbside captures only 20% of beverage containers and the bottle bill captures 80%).

At the hearing, testifying on behalf of the update was former Sen. Lois Pines, Rep. Alice Wolf, Rep. Douglas Petersen, Rep. Steven D'Amico, Rep. Dennis Guyer, Sen. Cynthia Creem. Many other legislators who were unable to attend the hearing filed written testimony.

The bill(s) will now be studied by the committee.

January, 2007

In the 2007-08 Legislative Session, legislation that would update the Bottle Bill was filed by Rep. Douglas Petersen (D-Marblehead) and Rep. Marty Walz (D-Boston). Both of these would update the bottle bill by including "new age" drinks such as non-carbonated beverages, water, iced tea, juice, and sports drinks. These bills were referred to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Energy.