Message Your Maryland Reps

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Maryland lawmakers are considering a Bottle Bill (HB 133 / SB 342 Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program Bill) that would establish a deposit-return system for beverage containers. By placing a small returnable deposit on bottles and cans, it incentivizes consumers to return them for recycling and reuse, thereby reducing the plastic and waste polluting our natural environment. 

More than 5.5 billion beverage containers are sold in Maryland annually, but only about a quarter of them are recycled. The rest of the bottles and cans — more than 4 billion annually — are either incinerated, landfilled, or littered. No surprise then that plastic bottles are one of the top littered items found on our roads, rivers and beaches.

A Maryland Bottle Bill would:

• Reduce litter, waste and plastic pollution, especially from single-use plastic bottles, in neighborhoods, communities, and the natural environment.
• Protect human health by reducing microplastics and limiting the plastic waste that enters the environment, our food systems and human bodies.
• Reduce emissions and climate impacts by reducing the production of new cans and bottles from virgin materials. The additional recycling from this program would eliminate 231,707 metric tons of CO2 equivalent annually, the equivalent of removing the emissions of 50,371 cars.
• Boost and invest in reuse systems by establishing a grant program to promote reusable beverage containers.
• Create jobs. Recycling generated by a deposit program creates five times more jobs as do landfilling or incineration.
• Hold corporations accountable by shifting the financial burden of waste management to the beverage industry.
• Save local government and taxpayer money by drastically reducing litter cleanup costs.