AUGUSTA - The Maine Legislature advanced a bill this week from Rep. Allison Hepler, D-Woolwich, that would modernize Maine's beverage container redemption laws, also known as the "Bottle Bill."
"My legislation would ensure a high bottle return rate to protect our environment, extend equity, sustainability and predictability for redemption centers, and provide convenient redemption information to consumers, small beverage companies and tourists alike," said Hepler. "Redemption centers play an important part in our communities and are vital to the success of our bottle redemption law. We all benefit from a good bottle redemption program handling fee increases alone were never the entire solution, only part of it."
As amended, LD 1909 would make numerous changes to support redemption centers and the bottle redemption program, including a move to a material-based bottle sorting process, 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.
"Over the past 45 years, Maine's 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 6 to 1."
The bill received strong support from redemption centers and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, among others at its public hearing last month. Additional testimony can be found here.
The bill faces further votes in the Senate.
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