Beverage Container Legislative Toolkit

Before You Begin

To use this toolkit, click through each tab (Sections 1 – 11) to explore the different policy options available. From there, decide which policies you want to include in your bill. Each section has sample language for you to copy and paste into our downloadable bill template. This is the language you’ll use to create your bill. To help you get started, you can find an outline of the bill sections below.

Bill Outline

Section 1: Definitions

Every bill starts with a definitions section that defines the key terms and components of the bill. We have provided suggested definitions for many of these terms in our bill template.  For Beverage Container Recycling and Reuse Laws, definitions for the terms “beverage,” “beverage container,” “recycling,” and “reusable” are particularly important, so we’ve provided a bit more information on these below.

“Beverage”

This definition is significant because it will determine the types of beverages that are included in your Bottle Bill. In recent years, many older Bottle Bill programs have lagged behind because their definitions of “beverage” have not been updated since the 1980s. This means large categories of beverages that have grown in popularity over the past few decades – bottled water, sports drinks, energy drinks, coffees, teas, and juices – are left out. Other state programs exclude drinks like wine or liquor. Simply put, the more expansive the definition of “Beverage,” the better. With that in mind, we recommend that, if possible, you use “Option 1” below.

Review the following options and choose one to include in your bill.

• Option 1
• Option 2

Broad Definition with Limited Exceptions

The most comprehensive definition includes just about everything we typically think of as a “Beverage,” and only excludes limited types of liquids like medicine and infant formula. That’s because medicine and infant formula are essential to maintain human life and we want to make sure there are no barriers to access these liquids. No U.S. state has successfully implemented such an all-encompassing approach. However, several legislatures including Maryland and Illinois, have recently considered (but not yet passed) legislation with a broad “Beverage” definition.

Sample Language for Your Bill

If you take this approach, use the following definition of “beverage” in SECTION 1 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. “Beverage” means any drinkable liquid intended for human oral consumption. The term “Beverage” does not include:
   1. A drug regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); or
   2. Infant formula.

List Specific Beverage Types

This is a less comprehensive approach in which “beverage” is defined according to a list of specific drink types. If legislators in your state would prefer not to use the all-encompassing approach, a well-crafted list can still incorporate most, if not all, of the common beverages in our lives. States like Connecticut have used this approach when expanding older Bottle Bills to include new beverages. But amending bills to expand Bottle Bill programs can be difficult and time consuming, rather than having an all-encompassing approach at the outset.

Maine, with one of the more successful Bottle Bill programs in the country, uses a similar model to capture drinks like beer, spirits, wine, and all nonalcoholic carbonated or noncarbonated drinks. The key to this approach is to incorporate as many drinks as possible. As the bill moves through the legislative process, it’s important to keep an eye on the list to make sure lobbyists aren’t slowly removing key beverage types.

Sample Language for Your Bill

If you take this approach, use the following definition of “beverage” in SECTION 1 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

“Beverage” means beer or other malt beverage, spirits and spirit-based drinks, wine, hard cider, hard seltzers, wine coolers, and all nonalcoholic carbonated or noncarbonated drinkable liquids intended for human oral consumption. The term “Beverage” does not include:

1. A drug regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); or
2. Infant formula.

“Beverage Container”

The definition of “Beverage Container” concerns the type of bottles and cans that will be included in your Bottle Bill. This definition describes the material type and size of the drink containers covered by a program. Once again, the key is to use as broad a definition as possible. Most Bottle Bills in the U.S., including Oregon, Connecticut, Maine, and New York, cover all plastic, glass, and metal jars containing a “Beverage” as defined in the bill. The Bottle Bill programs in the U.S. exclude cartons, pouches, and aseptic packaging like drink boxes. This is because these beverage containers aren’t recyclable and are infrequently littered.

In terms of size limits, states like Connecticut include containers up to 3 liters. New York, however, goes up to 3.78 liters, and Maine up to 4 liters. In general, an upper limit of 3 liters works well to cover most beverage containers in our lives, but feel free to adjust the limit to what will work best for your state.

A more important consideration is the lower size limit for “Beverage Container.” Small, single serving alcohol bottles, commonly referred to as “nips,” are one of the most littered items on roadways and in parks. And yet, Maine is the only state with a Bottle Bill that includes nips in its definition of “Beverage Container.” We recommend using a lower size limit of 50 milliliters so that your Bottle Bill captures these small, pervasive containers – keeping them off the ground and out of streams and rivers.

Sample Language for Your Bill

Use the following definition of “Beverage Container” in SECTION 1 of the bill template. Adjust size limits as appropriate to suit the needs of your state.

Copy and Paste

1. “Beverage Container” means a sealed glass, plastic, or metal bottle, can, or jar containing between 50 milliliters and 3 liters of a beverage. “Beverage Container” shall not include:
   1. Cartons;
   2. Pouches; or
   3. Aseptic packaging, such as a drink box.

“Recycling”

Many older Bottle Bills either do not define “Recycling” (e.g. Connecticut, New York, and Oregon) or include a broad definition that refers to reprocessing, reusing, and/or reconstituting material into new products (e.g. Maine and Vermont). Unfortunately, these approaches create potential loopholes that may allow “downcycling” or toxic, climate-damaging “chemical recycling” to count as recycling. To address this risk, we recommend using the following language to define “Recycle,” “Recycling,” and “Recycled.”

Sample Language for Your Bill

Use the following definition of “Recycle,” “Recycling,” and “Recycled” in SECTION 1 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. “Recycle,” “Recycling,” and “Recycled” means the series of activities by which a covered product is collected, sorted, processed, and converted into a raw material with minimal loss in material quality for use in the production of a new product, including the original product. The term “Recycle,” “Recycling,” and “Recycled” shall not include:
   1. Methods of sorting, processing, and aggregating materials from solid waste that do not preserve the original material quality, and, as a result, render the aggregated material no longer usable for manufacturing into the same or substantially similar product and can only be used for inferior purposes or to manufacture interior products (commonly referred to as “downcycling”);
   2. The use of materials as fuel, a fuel substitute, or for energy production;
   3. The use of materials for repurposing into infrastructure or construction, including, but not limited to, pavement for streets, sidewalks, or roads, building materials, or other infrastructure products, as determined by the Department;
   4. The use of materials for alternative daily cover for a landfill;
   5. Disposal within the footprint of a landfill; or
   6. The process of materials through advanced recycling, chemical recycling, combustion, gasification, incineration, pyrolysis, solvolysis, thermal desorption, waste-to-energy, waste-to-fuel, or any other chemical or molecular conversion process.

“Reusable”

U.S. Bottle Bill programs dramatically improve recycling rates. This is, without question, a worthy and important goal. But they can do even more by incorporating and mandating reusable, refillable containers. No current U.S. Bottle Bill fully incorporates reuse. Maine’s program was recently amended to promote the use of reuseable and refillable beverage containers through a new grant program paid for by beverage companies. Elsewhere, momentum is building in states like California to amend existing programs to set reuse targets and in Maryland to implement new programs that prioritize reuse. Incorporating reusable containers in a Bottle Bill program starts with a good definition of “Reusable.” We recommend the following definition, which provides flexibility by allowing your state environmental agency to set the appropriate standards for reuse.

Sample Language for Your Bill

Use the following definition of “Reusable” in SECTION 1 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. “Reusable” means, with respect to Beverage Containers, that the Beverage Container is:
   1. Mechanically feasible for reuse or refill in current United States market conditions;
   2. Is reusable or refillable for the same purpose for which it was designed for 45 reuse cycles, or for such a number of cycles as determined to be appropriate by the Department.

Section 2: Deposit Value

This section sets the deposit and refund value for your Bottle Bill. The deposit is what makes a Bottle Bill work and what sets Bottle Bills apart from all other recycling and reuse systems. This small, refundable deposit incentivizes consumers to return their bottles and cans to be recycled and reused. This, of course, means that the deposit must be set at a high enough value to provide the right incentive. Unsurprisingly, states with 10-cent deposits see a higher rate of folks returning their beverage containers to redeem their deposit than states with 5-cent deposits. For this reason, we recommend starting with a 10-cent deposit to get a higher redemption rate.

But there is more to consider than just deposit value. Many Bottle Bill states with 5-cent deposits have seen their redemption rates decline over time as inflation decreases the relative “value” of a 5-cent deposit. And yet, most of these states have struggled to pass new legislation that increases their deposits, largely due to well-funded opposition from the beverage industry. Presumably, a similar trend will play out over time for states with 10-cent deposits. The solution? Tie the deposit value in your Bottle Bill to the redemption rate for covered containers so that the deposit will increase if the redemption rate falls.

Oregon took this approach when it amended its Bottle Bill in 2011. The amendment provided that, if the redemption rate fell below 80% for two straight years, the deposit value would automatically increase from 5 cents to 10 cents. That deposit increase took effect in 2017, and Oregon’s redemption rate shot up to 85% over the next two years.

This approach to deposits and deposit increases may not work in every state, so we’ve laid out three different options below for you to consider.

Review the following options and choose one to use in your bill.

Section 3: Handling Fee

Handling fees are separate and distinct from refundable deposits and they are a key component of all the best Bottle Bill programs. They help fund a robust redemption, recycling, and reuse network. Beverage distributors, which are mainly middleman type companies that buy beverages from beverage producers and sell them to retailers, pay these fees to retailers and redemption centers. Fees are usually between 3-5 cents per container and cover the cost of collecting empty containers and returning them to the distributors, system operators, or Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs explained in Section 4) for recycling or reuse. These fees also make the program work by allowing retailers and redemption centers to create space to store empty containers, pay staff members (creating local jobs in the process), and pay for equipment like reverse vending machines or bag drop systems.

Eight out of ten U.S. Bottle Bill programs, and most foreign Bottle Bill programs, rely on handling fees. The best thing about handling fees? They ensure that the beverage industry itself is on the hook for funding the recycling and reuse of beverage containers.

There are two main options for setting handling fees: (1) empower your state environmental agency to set the appropriate handling fee and adjust it as necessary to encourage more redemption locations; or (2) set a static handling fee without built-in adjustments. Each of these options is laid out below.

Review the following options and choose one to include in your bill.

Section 4: Producer Responsibility Organization

Only include this section if you want to incorporate a Producer Responsibility Organization in your Bottle Bill program.

Producer Responsibility Organizations, also known as a PRO or a Stewardship Organization, have become one of the most hotly debated components of Bottle Bill legislation over the past several years. These organizations are typically formed by beverage producers and/or distributors to more or less run a Bottle Bill program. However, the scope of their power, responsibilities, and transparency can vary significantly.

Supporters of PROs claim that they can improve efficiency and lower administrative burdens for state environmental agencies. Critics explain that too much power given to these organizations with too little oversight is problematic. This is because PROs are made up of beverage industry representatives who naturally may prioritize industry interests rather than making the program as strong as it can be. Remember, the beverage container waste problem is one the beverage industry created.

Currently, Oregon is the only state in the U.S. that incorporates a PRO – called the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative – in its bottle bill program. Connecticut created a potential pathway for a PRO when it modernized its program in 2021. Additionally, several states that recently considered creating new Bottle Bill programs, including Illinois, Maryland, and Rhode Island, have included PROs in their legislation.

This much is clear: The debate over PROs is not going away. As states consider extended producer responsibility for packaging programs, many legislators across the country have expressed a clear preference for PRO involvement in Bottle Bill programs. But as with so many other moving parts in Bottle Bill programs, the devil is in the details when it comes to legislative language around PROs.

If your state is interested in incorporating a PRO into its Bottle Bill legislation, we recommend choosing from one of the following two options, each of which will help ensure that any PRO involved with your Bottle Bill program will be subject to adequate oversight and will not be granted unfettered authority.

Review the following options and choose one to include in your bill.

Section 5: Acceptance of Beverage Containers

This section governs who must accept empty beverage containers covered in this program when the customer returns them to get back (redeem) their deposit. The ultimate goal here is to ensure the highest number and concentration of redemption locations possible, making it easy for consumers to return their containers and collect their refunded deposits. To that end, the best Bottle Bills incorporate “return to retail” language that requires retailers (grocery stores, big box stores, convenience stores, etc.) to accept the kinds of beverage containers they sell for redemption and to pay refunds. This requirement is included in every single Bottle Bill program in the U.S.

Unfortunately, retailers aren’t keen on being required to accept containers for recycling, and many resist attempts to include “return to retail” provisions in Bottle Bill legislation. To ease retailer burdens while also keeping the program convenient for customers, there are ways to carve out limited exemptions in Bottle Bills that allow certain retailers to avoid redemption obligations.

For example, Maine exempts all retailers under 5,000 square feet from redemption obligations and even allows larger retailers to opt out if they have an agreement with a nearby redemption center to accept empty containers on behalf of the retailer. Similarly, Oregon exempts certain retailers from redemption obligations if they are within two miles of a full-service redemption center. Oregon also limits the redemption obligations of other retailers within three-and-a-half miles of a full-service redemption center.

Redemption centers offer an alternative to retail locations, allow consumers to bring all their containers to one location, and, as in the case of Maine and Oregon, can be used to support a thriving network of redemption options that could be used to ease retailer burdens. Many successful Bottle Bill programs incorporate a robust network of freestanding redemption centers – either independently run or administered by a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO).

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to balancing return to retail with redemption centers while also considering the need for convenience for both consumers and retailers. That’s why we’re once again presenting several different options for beverage container acceptance for your Bottle Bill. Each of these options takes a slightly different approach to return to retail, but all include the same language regarding independent redemption centers.

Review the following options and choose one to include in your bill.

Section 6: Performance Standards

The best Bottle Bills set performance standards to ensure that the system performs at a high level. Oregon successfully used a performance standard approach to increase its deposit to 10 cents as its redemption rate lagged. A modern Bottle Bill should set even more performance standards than just the redemption target.

For example, Bottle Bill legislation recently considered in Maryland would have set redemption, recycling, reuse, and convenience standards. Convenience standards guarantee that there are enough redemption center locations for customers. We’ve drafted model language for your Bottle Bill that incorporates all four of these performance standards – redemption, recycling, reuse, and convenience. As always, feel free to adjust these targets to fit the needs and political realities of your state.

Sample Language for Your Bill

Copy and paste the following into SECTION 6 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. Redemption requirements:
   1. Beginning four years after the effective date of this Act, at least 70% of beverage containers sold in the state shall be redeemed.Beginning six years after the effective date of this Act, at least 80% of beverage containers sold in the state shall be redeemed.
   2. Beginning eight years after the effective date of this Act, at least 85% of beverage containers sold in the state shall be redeemed.
2. Recycling requirements:
   1. Beginning four years after the effective date of this Act, at least 60% of single-use beverage containers sold in the state shall be recycled.
   2. Beginning six years after the effective date of this Act, at least 70% of single-use beverage containers sold in the state shall be recycled.
   3. Beginning eight years after the effective date of this Act, at least 75% of single-use beverage containers sold in the state shall be recycled.
3. Reuse requirements:
   1. The Department shall require each producer and distributor, or a designated Producer Responsibility Organization, to work with dealers in the state to develop a plan that ensures that:
      1. Beginning six years after the effective date of this Act, at least 10% of all beverage containers sold in the state are returned and refilled.
      2. Beginning eight years after the effective date of this Act, at least 25% of all beverage containers sold in the state are returned and refilled.
      3. Beginning ten years after the effective date of this Act, at least 40% of all beverage containers sold in the state are returned and refilled.
4. Convenience requirements:
   1. Pursuant to section 10 of this Act, the Department shall establish convenience standards for the concentration, coverage, and availability of redemption options across the state.

Section 7: Registration, Reporting, and Labeling

This section of your Bottle Bill directs how beverage producers and distributors in your state will register with your state environmental agency or Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), which allows them to sell beverages. It also directs how producers and distributors report sales and redemption data, and how they must label their beverage containers. Accurate registration, reporting, and labelling are essential parts of well-functioning Bottle Bill programs because these requirements promote transparency and accountability in the entities that are being regulated. 

The key difference between the two options we’ve set out below is whether your Bottle Bill incorporates a PRO in Section 4 with a broad grant of authority to run the Bottle Bill system.

• If you did not empower a PRO to run the system in Section 4, you should choose Option 1.
• If you did empower a PRO to run the system in Section 4, you should choose Option 2.

Section 8: Management of Deposits

The management of deposits paid on beverage containers is another key behind-the-scenes component of any Bottle Bill program. Every modern program requires that these deposits be held in a separate account by the deposit initiator (i.e. the first entity that sells a beverage, typically a producer or distributor) and then paid back when empty containers are redeemed. The best, most transparent programs also require that the deposit initiators report to either a state environmental agency or a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) the total amounts of deposits collected and paid out. Any unclaimed deposits – the money left over from people who purchase a redeemable beverage container but never return it to get the deposit back – are turned over to either a state environmental agency or a PRO.

A big question for your Bottle Bill program will be what to do with the unclaimed deposits. We recommend that this money be reinvested in your Bottle Bill program to cover costs incurred by your state environmental agency and/or PRO and to fund a grant program to invest in recycling and reuse in your state.

As with registration, reporting, and labelling provisions in Section 7, we’re presenting two options here based on whether your Bottle Bill incorporates a PRO with broad authority to run the Bottle Bill system.

• If you did not empower a PRO to run the system in Section 4, you should choose Option 1 to copy and paste into Section 8 of the bill template.
• If you did empower a PRO to run the system in Section 4, you should choose Option 2 to copy and paste into Section 8 of the bill template.

Section 9: Elimination of Toxic Substances in Beverage Containers (Optional)

Include this section if you want to regulate the toxics used in manufacturing beverage containers.

A Bottle Bill can go a step further in protecting public health by regulating materials that should not appear in our beverage containers. The language in this optional section would prohibit producers and distributors from selling beverage containers that contain certain toxic chemicals. And it would empower your state environmental agency to designate further toxic chemicals that it decides have the potential to cause harm.

Sample Language for Your Bill

Copy and paste the following into SECTION 9 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. Beginning four years after the effective date of this Act, no distributor may sell, offer for sale, or distribute into the state any beverage container containing the following toxic substances;
   1. Ortho-phthalates;
   2. Bisphenols;
   3. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS);
   4. Lead and lead compounds;
   5. Hexavalent chromium and compounds;
   6. Cadmium and cadmium compounds;
   7. Mercury and mercury compounds;
   8. Benzophenone and its derivatives;
   9. Halogenated flame retardants;
   10. Perchlorate;
   11. Formaldehyde;
   12. Toluene;
   13. Antimony and compounds; and
   14. UV 328 (2-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-4,6-di-tert-pentylphenol).
2. Beginning seven years after the effective date of this act, and every three years thereafter, the Department shall designate at least ten additional toxic substances or families of toxic substances that may no longer be used in beverage containers sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state based on:
   1. The potential to cause adverse public health impacts to consumers;
   2. Impact on the ability to safely and effectively recycle, reuse, or refill beverage containers; or
   3. Potential to bioaccumulate in the environment.
3. If the Department determines there are not ten toxic substances or families of toxic substances that should be added to the list, it shall public a detained statement of its finding and conclusions supporting such a determination.
4. Any distributor that violates this section shall be subject to a fine for each violation not to exceed fifty thousand dollars per violation. For the purposes of this section, each product line that contains a toxic substance or material as prohibited by this subsection that is sold, offered for sale, or distributed to consumers, via retail commerce, in the state, including through an internet transaction violation shall be considered a violation.

Section 10: Rulemaking

As you may have noticed, the model language we’ve included in this toolkit frequently refers to “rules established by the Department.” Modern Bottle Bills, and most environmental programs for that matter, depend on state environmental agencies to create rules and regulations that help the agencies administer these complex systems. Leaving certain details of the program to agency rulemaking – including licensing for redemption centers, data reporting procedures, and processes for determining compliance with performance standards – also provides flexibility to individual states. There is value in letting state environmental agencies, who are uniquely situated to understand the needs of their states, figure out how to make all the elements work together. This section requires your state environmental agency with creating the rules that will help your Bottle Bill perform at its best. The public has an opportunity to engage and provide feedback in the rulemaking process.

Sample Language for Your Bill

Copy and paste the following into SECTION 10 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. The Department shall administer the provisions of this act and may promulgate rules as necessary to implement, administer and enforce this Act. All rules developed under this Act shall be promulgated no later than one year after the effective date of this Act.
2. The Department shall solicit input from the public of any draft rules to implement this Section, solicit public comment on draft rules for a period of at least 90 days, and hold a public hearing on the draft rules.
3. The rules promulgated by the Department pursuant to this section must include:
   1. A method for calculating the redemption rate for beverage containers; 
   2. A method for calculating the recycling rate for beverage containers;
   3. A method for calculating the amount of reusable beverage containers sold or refilled;
   4. A process for collecting all necessary information to ensure distributor and dealer compliance with the requirements of this Act;
   5. A method for determining compliance with the performance standards pursuant to the requirements of section 6 of this Act;
   6. A method for establishing convenience standards for the concentration, coverage, and availability of redemption options across the state pursuant to section 6 of this Act;
   7. A method for determining compliance with the toxic substance reduction requirements of section 9 of this Act;
   8. A process for compiling a list of all the points of redemption both at the state and county level;
   9. A process for determining the number of cycles for a reusable beverage container;
   10. A process for licensing redemption centers;
   11. A process for determining whether information is proprietary information and therefore must be handled as confidential information; 
   12. A process for soliciting, reviewing, and awarding grants pursuant to the requirements of section 8 of this Act;
   13. A process for submitting for review, approving, and monitoring account-based bulk processing programs that ensures that the program will accurately refund deposits and maintain and report data from each transaction and identifies the information that must be submitted to the Department for approval of the program; and
   14. Any other rules necessary to accomplish the requirements of this Act.

Seciton 11: Enforcement

The requirements and standards in your Beverage Container Recycling and Reuse Law don’t amount to much if your state cannot enforce them. The language we’ve drafted for this section allows your state to do just that. The language we’ve drafted for this section allows your state to enforce this law by charging a fine and possibly filing a lawsuit for violations. What’s more, it also allows state residents to step in and enforce the law if needed.

Sample Language for Your Bill

Copy and paste the following into SECTION 11 of the bill template.

Copy and Paste

1. Any person, distributor, dealer, or Producer Responsibility Organization who violates the requirements of this Act shall be subject to a fine for each violation and for each day the violation occurs in the amount of not more than $10,000.
2. The Department may bring a civil action to enjoin the sale, distribution, or importation into the United States of a beverage sold in a beverage container in violation of this Act.
3. Any resident of the state may bring an action in court against any person, distributor, dealer, Producer Responsibility Organization, or the Department to enforce this subtitle, by which they may recoup damages, attorney’s fees and other costs associated with bringing the suit, and civil penalties that the distributor is required to pay as fines.