VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: How New York’s “Bigger Better Bottle Bill” could affect recycling in Onondaga County
Jessica Nester: For decades, New Yorkers have paid a 5 cent deposit on most bottles and cans. This was created by a New York’s bottle bill. Buyers can get their deposit back at places like this.
Taylor Wojtalewski: I think personally, it’s a great incentive program to get people involved.
Nester: Taylor Wojtalewski says this system contributes to the common good.
Wojtalewski: There are definitely people that go through trash and pick up these bottles and cans, but that is a complete benefit to the community because they’re literally cleaning up our streets.
Nester: But Lawmakers have now proposed a Bigger Better Bottle Bill. This would widen the amount of bottle types accepted at returns like these and double the deposit to 10 cents. Manager Jenny Goodall sees the impact getting these returns has on people firsthand.
Jenny Goodall: Some people it means whether or not they can eat every day.
Nester: While the updated bill would bring extra money to the bottle redemption centers – it would also give unclaimed deposits to the state’s environmental protection fund. Which could potentially be used to fund other recycling initiatives – like composting.
Tammy Palmer: The great thing about compost is its a perfect example of circularity. You grow a plant at home. You eat it. Whatever is left over, whatever scraps you have that you can’t eat, you then compost. Then you can take that compost and apply it to your garden and grow a new plant.
Nester: Tammy Palmer is the public information officer for OCRRA – Onondaga County’s recycling agency. She says they run a waste to energy facility but they’re limited on how much waste they can send a year. The new bill aims to decrease the amount of waste sent to places like these – which Palmer agrees with.
Palmer : We don’t have unlimited capacity for waste. So we need to figure out ways to reduce waste and reuse what we have and recycle as much as possible.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) — For decades, New Yorkers have paid a 5 cent deposit on most bottles and cans they buy within the state. This was created by the Returnable Container Act of 1982. Buyers can get their deposit back at bottle redemption centers, like Lyncourt Bottle Return in Onondaga County.
Taylor Wojtalewski is an employee at Lyncourt Bottle Return. He said he thinks this system contributes to the common good.
“I think personally, it’s a great incentive program to get people involved,” said Wojtalewski.
Often, when people think about these redemption centers, they picture people going through others’ trash and taking cans from there. Wojtalewski admits this does happen, but doesn’t see it negatively.
“There are definitely people that go through trash and pick up these bottles and cans, but that is a complete benefit to the community because they’re literally cleaning up our streets,” said Wojtalewski.
Lawmakers have now proposed an update to the original bill, one they’re calling the Bigger Better Bottle Bill. This is sponsored by Kevin Parker, a Democratic official from the 21st Senate district, and co-sponsored by Patricia Fahy from the 46th Senate district.
This update would widen the amount of bottle types accepted at returns like these, namely expanding to include glass bottles, cider cans and sports drinks. It still would not include bottles or cans from Canada.
It would also double the deposit to 10 cents a can. Senators said other states that have higher deposit refunds see higher rates of recycling. In Michigan, where the refund is 10 cents, the redemption rate in 2019 was 89%. In New York, the average redemption rate in 2020 had dropped to 65%.
Manager of Lyncourt Bottle Return, Jenny Goodall, said she saw the impact getting these returns has on people firsthand.
“Some people it means whether or not they can eat everyday,” said Goodall.
While the updated bill would bring extra money to the bottle redemption centers, giving them financial means to stay in business, it would also give 50% of unclaimed deposits to the state’s environmental protection fund. This money could potentially be put towards other recycling initiatives, like composting.
Tammy Palmer is the public information officer for OCRRA – Onondaga County’s recycling agency. She said composting is just another form of recycling.
“The great thing about compost is its a perfect example of circularity. You grow a plant at home. You eat it. Whatever is left over, whatever scraps you have that you can’t eat, you then compost. Then you can take that compost and apply it to your garden and grow a new plant.”
Palmer said OCRRA runs two waste-to-energy facilities in Onondaga County instead of a landfill. However, they’re still limited on how much waste they can send a year.
The new bill aims to decrease the amount of waste sent to places like these, which Palmer said she agrees with.
“We don’t have unlimited capacity for waste, that’s just the reality. We need to figure out ways to reduce waste and reuse what we have and recycle as much as possible,” said Palmer.
The bill is currently in Senate committee, specifically the Environmental Conservation Committee. This is the second step in the process of officially becoming a new law. The proposal will still need to pass through Assembly Committee, be debated on the floor of the Senate and Assembly and passed by both before it can be delivered to the Governor.
This isn’t the first time lawmakers have tried to pass a change from the original Returnable Container Act. In both the 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 legislative sessions, the bill stalled in the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.