The Legislature, without dissent (Legislator Henry Granison was excused) passed a resolution urging the New York State Legislature to increase recycling and reduce municipal waste management costs by expanding the New York State Returnable Container Act (also known as the Bottle Bill) to include wine, liquor, and other glass beverage containers.
Director of Recycling and Materials Management Barbara Eckstrom notes that the existing State Bottle Bill has proven to be the most effective way to recover and recycle various glass beverage containers, including beer and soda bottles, with glass beverage containers with a deposit having an economically viable market because they are source-separated and clean. As part of single-stream curbside collection programs, these glass bottles have no economically viable recycling markets, Eckstrom added, while they also break and contaminate paper and other materials at recycling facilities, resulting in diminished paper revenues and increased garbage. The resolution notes that several other states recognize the environmental and economic benefits of including wine, spirit and other glass beverage containers in their Bottle Bill systems.