AUGUSTA - Rep. Allison Hepler, D-Woolwich, introduced legislation this week before the Legislature's Environment and Natural Resources Committee that would modernize Maines beverage container redemption laws, also known as the "Bottle Bill."
With an amendment introduced by Rep. Hepler, LD 1909 would make numerous changes to support redemption centers and the bottle redemption program. These include moving to a material-based bottle sorting process, linking biannual bottle handling fee increases to inflation, reallocating unclaimed deposits to support and invest in recycling and reuse systems and creating a commingling cooperative to manage the redemption program with representative stakeholder input. The legislation would also require an annual report back to the Legislature on the status of the program beginning Feb. 15, 2024.
"We all benefit from a successful bottle redemption program handling fee increases alone was never the entire solution, only part of it," said Hepler. "Redemption centers play an important part in our communities and are vital to the success of our bottle redemption law. These investments would ensure a high bottle return rate to protect our environment, provide convenient redemption information to consumers, small beverage companies and tourists alike, and extend equity, sustainability and predictability for redemption centers."
The bill received strong support from redemption centers and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, among others. Additional testimony can be found here.
"Over the past 45 years, Maines Bottle Bill program has been extremely effective at reducing litter, increasing recycling, creating jobs, funding charities and reducing costs for municipalities and taxpayers," said Sarah Nichols, Sustainable Maine program director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. "Maine people are proud of the Bottle Bill, and we should be. When the beverage industry attempted to roll back the Bottle Bill in a referendum in 1976, Maine voters rejected that effort by a margin of six to one."
The Environment and Natural Resources Committee will hold a work session on the bill in the coming weeks.
Hepler is the House chair of the Marine Resources Committee, and is a member of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee as well as the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. She is serving her third term in the Maine House and represents Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich.
Contact:
Brian Lee [Hepler], c. 305-965-2744