Beating Back Bad Bottle Bills
When old school bottle bills that are unfair to business, inconvenient to consumers and ineffective in achieving strong environmental outcomes were proposed, we acted.
In 2022, 24 new bottle bills were proposed, all in states without existing deposit laws—and not one passed. When we saw an opportunity to make an existing deposit law work better for the environment, consumers and the business community, we worked with the Iowa Beverage Association and local bottlers to support their efforts with lawmakers. As California lawmakers considered a new law requiring all packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, among other things, we engaged fully throughout the legislative process. In the end, we were able to avoid a statewide ballot measure that would tax all plastics and with the new law, carve out an exemption for products currently included in the state’s deposit law. We did this because what matters is advancing policy with sustainable and strong environmental outcomes.
