NEWS RELEASE: New legislation to update antiquated ‘bottle bill’

Massachusetts’ landmark container recycling law overdue for modernization

BOSTON —  To reduce waste and increase recycling, state Sen. Cynthia Creem (Newton) and state Rep. Marjorie Decker (Cambridge) have filed “An Act to Expand the Bottle Bill” for the 2025-26 legislative session, to bring the 40+ year old law up to date in Massachusetts.  The bill would expand the types of containers covered by the deposit system to include water bottles, juice drinks and more. It would also raise the per container deposit from 5 cents, which has not changed since 1983, up to 10 cents, as other states have done.

“There are so many intractable problems in our state and country right now,” said Rep. Decker, the bill’s chief sponsor in the House. “Here’s a commonsense, straightforward solution to litter, plastic waste and pollution: getting more beverage containers recycled, which we will accomplish once this bill passes.”

In the early 1980s, when the “bottle bill” became law, the vast majority of beverages were carbonated, and those are the only drinks currently covered by the law. Since that time, drinks such as water, juice, iced teas and more have come on the market, but are not covered by a deposit. A vast majority of those beverage containers become litter or waste.

“In my district and around the state, people are looking for ways to reduce the garbage we send to landfills and incinerators, and to increase reuse and recycling,” said Sen. Creem. “We know,  from our neighboring states with bottle bills—including Maine and Connecticut—that the more containers with a deposit, the more recycling and less waste there is.”

In addition to reducing waste and litter from beverage containers, a recent analysis from the Container Recycling Institute found that modernizing the bottle bill in Massachusetts would reduce air-polluting greenhouse gas emissions by 182,000 metric tons per year. That’s equivalent to removing 39,600 gas-powered cars from the roads annually.

“We see this bill as being win/win/win for Massachusetts—reducing plastic litter, increasing recycling and saving cities and towns money in trash pick-up,” said Janet Domenitz, the executive director of MASSPIRG, a longtime proponent of the policy. “We look forward to getting this bill over the finish line this session.”