This legislative session, Vermont lawmakers will consider bills to strengthen, but also repeal, Vermont’s pioneering bottle law.
Two bills were introduced to expand the law. If passed, they would require the bottle law to also include wine and all carbonated and noncarbonated drink containers. The Burlington Free Press says the bill would force beverage companies to use the money from unclaimed deposits to support environmental programs.
Another bill would enact a solid waste program under which producers would have to set up and pay for a program to collect, recycle and dispose of certain types of packaging. The bill would also repeal the beverage container redemption system.
Vermont’s bottle-deposit law was passed in 1972 in an effort to conserve energy, reduce litter and increase recycling.