NY State's new Bottle Bill
Coming soon to a state near you?
I was at a party yesterday where a friend who works in the beverage industry mentioned that NY State will soon require beers, sodas, even bottled water to carry a NY State-specific label. The bill also provides that 80% of the unredeemed deposit monies (now kept by the producer) be turned over to the state for environmental programs. It also expands deposit requirements to bottled water, a significant part of the state's litter problem. Another feature of the bill increases "handling" fees, which will increase the price New Yorkers will pay for all bottled/canned beverages.
The *whole point of the labeling* is to make it impossible for any consumer to collect a deposit from a NY retailer on a beverage container from out of state where a deposit was not required, thus "unjustly enriching" that individual, and more importantly, reducing NY's share of the 80% of otherwise unredeemed deposit monies (formerly kept by the producer.)
The loss of a significant portion of the deposit revenue stream, plus logistics (and the additional cost!) of segregating part of the product run for a single state requirement, may change what is available to beer and hard cider drinkers in NYS. Small craft breweries selling product inside NYS, whether they operate their brewery inside NYS or not, may find it unprofitable to continue to sell their product within NYS.
Bottom line for all beverages purchased in NYS? Look for higher costs and fewer choices across the board.
By mcsheridan
on May 10, 2009 05:53 AM
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Here in Maine we have a 5-cent deposit on all beer, soda, water, and juice containers (even plastic jugs of cider and those tiny cans of V8 - only cartons are exempt) and 15 cents on wine and liquor bottles. It's sort of a pain to corral all the empties and drag them back to the store, and there's still plenty of trash on the roads. On the other hand, the 'extra' money comes in handy around vacation time, after we've forgotten it came off our grocery bill to begin with, and I'm told before the bottle bill was passed there was even MORE trash around. It is possible to redeem out of state containers here, but there's a fine if you get caught. If the clerk isn't familiar with microbrews and such, it's a problem - I've been accused of trying to redeem 'illegal' bottles because the label isn't immediately recognizable, or even because the label says 'from Canada'...
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I think some legislators have been watching too much Seinfeld:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bott...
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i just did my first order with fresh direct since this new law went into effect they are charging the 5 cents on every bottle but they have added a 3.5 cent per bottle handling fee on top of that it work out to 8.5 per bottle.
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