Partly cloudy skies with gusty winds. Low 46F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph..

Partly cloudy skies with gusty winds. Low 46F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph.

Bottle bills are effective. Bottle bill states have achieved beverage container recycling rates of 70% to 95%, in contrast to the non-deposit states that have an average container recycling rate of about 22%.

Our 1982 bottle bill law is one of the state’s most effective recycling measures, but after nearly 40 years it is in need of updates to more efficiently reduce waste, litter, and municipal costs for disposal and clean up in the Commonwealth.

Expanding our bottle b ill brings us into the 21st century, by capturing beverages and containers that didn’t exist in 1982 — such as water, juices, sports drinks, iced teas, nip bottles and others — mostly in plastic. Many of these single-serve containers are consumed away from home and go in the trash or worst on our beaches, along our roads and in our parks and woods where underage drinkers may gather.

Other bottle bill states, including Connecticut and Maine, have already successfully updated their laws to cover a wider range of beverage containers and include a higher deposit (10¢) and have seen their redemption rates skyrocket.

I do agree with Mr Robitaille (“Repeal the Mass. bottle bill,” Sept. 16) on one point, that we need to make bottle and can redemption easier for all our residents. At the same time, we also need to insure that all the stakeholders (and there are many!) in this have a seat at the rules table to create a system that makes the most sense, that demands sustainable packaging and is itself sustainable.

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