FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Tim Minotas
248-961-9610
Sean McBrearty
616-516-7758
Environmental Groups Applaud Bills To Update Michigan’s Bottle Deposit Law
Lansing, MI -- Michigan’s two largest grassroots environmental advocacy organizations, Clean Water Action and Sierra Club, applaud Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) and Rep. Christine Morse (D-Portage) for introducing bills to update and increase our state’s recycling and conservation priorities by expanding Michigan’s bottle deposit law to include other beverage containers like tea, water, sports drinks, and hard cider. The bills would also allow for universal redemption at large stores. Michigan’s bottle law has not been updated in over four decades and is one of the only states that does not allow universal redemption currently.
Further provisions in the bills would create a bottle handling fund to reimburse distributors and dealers on a per-bottle-basis; make funding available for audits and fraud enforcement, and provide $25 million each year to further address Michigan’s thousands of orphaned toxic contamination sites that are polluting our land and water.
In response to the bill introduction, Sierra Club and Clean Water Action released the following statements:
“Michigan’s 10 cent bottle deposit law has been one of our most successful environmental policies when it comes to reducing litter and promoting the reuse of resources. However, we’ve failed to update our bottle deposit law to reflect the consumer trends we see today as most plastic beverages being consumed now are noncarbonated single-use plastic beverages which we can’t return for a deposit. These bills reflect those trends which will further reduce Michigan’s plastic pollution problem and help keep our state beautiful and healthy by providing much need funding to address legacy contamination throughout our state.” - Tim Minotas, Legislative and Political Coordinator of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter
“Michigan’s bottle deposit law has been tremendously successful. Updating it to include beverages that are consumed in far greater amounts today than they were 40 years ago is a common sense step that will increase recycling and further protect our Great Lakes from plastic pollution. Michigan’s bottle bill has retained wide public support, proving that this is just as much a non-partisan issue as it was when Michigan voters established the bottle deposit law over 40 years ago. We thank Senator McCann and Representative Morse for leading the way on this critical issue, and we call on all Michigan lawmakers to support these bills.” - Mary Brady-Enerson, Michigan Director, Clean Water Action
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