As of early May, more than half of all cities and towns in Massachusetts had passed resolutions supporting legislation that would expand the state’s bottle bill to include bottled water, sports drinks and high-energy beverages.

The law, which sets a nickel deposit on beverage containers in order to encourage recycling, currently applies only to carbonated beverages – primarily soda and beer.

The Department of Environmental Protection estimates that expanding the bottle bill would save cities and towns between $3.7 million and $6.5 million a year in avoided collection, disposal and recycling costs.

“The expanded bottle bill is good for our neighborhoods, good for our environment, and good for our pocket book,” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said during a May 5 press conference in support of the expansion. “These containers litter our streets, business districts and parks, and this legislation gives us a real opportunity to prevent litter while saving important resources.”

Menino was joined by Sen. Cynthia Creem, Rep. Alice Wolf, and Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll at the press conference.

“As times have changed and the way people consume drinks has changed, it really makes sense to update the bottle bill,” Driscoll said. “Including more containers in the law will give consumers an extra incentive to recycle.”

Consumption of bottled water, sports drinks, and high-energy drinks has grown significantly during the three decades that the bottle bill has been in effect. The DEP estimates that about a third of the roughly 3 billion beverage containers used in Massachusetts each year aren’t eligible for the bottle deposit, making them less likely to be recycled.

Boston, which pays roughly $79 per ton for disposing of solid waste, estimates that an expanded bottle bill would result in 3,000 tons of additional beverage containers collected per year, saving more than half a million dollars per year in maintenance, collection, and disposal costs.

The MMA last year testified in favor of an expansion bill (H. 3515/S. 2547) that was reported favorably by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Energy and the Senate Committee on Ethics and Rules before stalling in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

In May, the MMA’s Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment renewed its endorsement of the bill, which is expected to be taken up by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Energy this summer.

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