State bills asks for up to 30-cent deposits on beverage containers

Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Photo by AP.

New state bills call for you to pay a 20-cent or 30-cent deposit on plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers. You would then get your money back when you return the bottles and cans. But is this incentive enough?

New bills proposed in the Florida House of Representatives (HB 853) and the Florida Senate (SB 672) are trying to stop litter in the state with a new incentive for bottle redemption.

“Having an incentive for people to actually go out and collect things should help,” said Win Everham, professor of marine and ecological sciences at FGCU. “If I give 20 cents to when I buy it; then, I get 20 cents back.”

These laws exist in 10 states currently — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont.

Some question how it will change local recycling programs. Others also question how these bills will impact retailers. Under the proposal, retailers would get a 20-percent cut.

WINK News contacted Florida Retail Federation for comment; however, representatives said the federation has not yet taken a stance.

“What we’re coming to find is that aluminum, glass, they’re a resource,” Everham said. “You can make money from recycling now, so we want to make sure it doesn’t negatively impact the programs we already have in place.”

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