ALBANY, New York — The first expansion of the state’s deposit system for bottles in more than a decade has run into significant opposition from industry and powerful labor groups, stalling a push by Assembly leaders to make it a belated Earth Day accomplishment.
Assemblymember Deborah Glick, who chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee and sponsors the bill, said she is still “guardedly optimistic” about passing the bottle bill.
“This bottle bill expansion does not begin to capture additional materials until 2026, two years from now. So I don’t think we’ve been precipitous,” Glick said in an interview with POLITICO. “We’ve had a hearing; we’ve met with lots of people. We’re still hearing comments. This bill has to happen this year to set the stage for two years from now.”
The proposal would require deposits for new types of beverage containers including wine, liquor, hard cider, noncarbonated teas and sports drinks. It would also increase the deposit from the current 5 cents to 10 cents and increase the handling fee for redemption centers that accept and sort the material because they are struggling financially with the current 3.5-cent disbursement.
