CRI issues new data on 2022 beverage container redemption rates

According to new data released by the Culver City, California-based Container Recycling Institute (CRI), beverage container redemption rates for 2022 in seven of the nine U.S. bottle bill states with available data either dropped or remained the same when compared with 2021. The national nonprofit adds that Oregon and Maine are the only states that saw a noticeable increase from 2021 to 2022.

In its report, CRI notes that of the 10 deposit states, all but Iowa have current data available.

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CRI President Susan Collins says, “Stagnant or dropping redemption rates point to the need for program modernizations, such as higher container deposit amounts, coverage of more beverage types and additional convenient options for consumers to return bottles and cans. Several bottle bill states still do not include deposits on noncarbonated drinks, including bottled water—sales of which have skyrocketed since the deposit return systems were implemented in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Of the nine deposit states with current data available, CRI reports that Michigan, California, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut saw either no redemption rate change or a minor change from 2021 to 2022. Vermont and Hawaii saw decreases of 6 and 4 percent, respectively.

Oregon and Maine reported increases of 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively, in year-over-year redemption rates.

Collins adds that program modernizations passed in California and Connecticut should lead to increases in the volume of bottles and cans redeemed as the new provisions take effect. However, she says changes in the actual redemption rates—the number of containers redeemed as a percentage of the number on deposit sold—can lag given the time needed for more consumers to learn about these changes and adjust their behavior to return newly eligible bottles and cans for the deposit refund.

In California, for example, SB 1030 adds deposits to wine and distilled spirits (5 cents for containers less than 24 ounces and 10 cents for those 24 ounces or larger), effective Jan. 1, 2024. A CRI analysis states this will result in the recycling of more than half a billion additional bottles and cans annually, or more than 300,000 tons of material that had previously been destined for a landfill.

Additionally, California’s budget bill (AB 179) provides nearly $400 million in new spending for the bottle bill program, including startup funds for recycling and processing centers and extra funding for bag drops, mobile recycling, reverse vending machines and more.

In its report, CRI says the California senate has passed a bill, SB 353, to add 100 percent fruit juices and vegetable juices to beverages on deposit. If it is held over until 2024—the second year of the state’s current two-year legislative cycle—it still must go through several steps in the legislative approval process. According to CRI analysis, passage of this bill would place a deposit on an estimated 188 million new containers, in addition to the 18.4 billion existing containers covered.

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CRI also cites SB 1037 in Connecticut, which:

• adds deposits to noncarbonated beverages, hard cider and malt-based hard cider, effective Jan. 1, 2023, for a 13 percent increase in overall beverage unit coverage;
• provides a handling fee increase for retailers and redemption centers, which generated enough revenue to encourage the opening of new centers, plus funding for retailers to install reverse vending machines, which, when mandated at certain chain stores, resulted in more than 300 new redemption locations in the state; and
• increases the deposit amount on eligible containers from 5 cents to 10 cents effective Jan. 1, 2024.

CRI adds that bottle bill reforms are occurring in Maine, which saw a redemption rate increase from 75 percent in 2021 to 78 percent in 2022. The 2023 passage of LD 134 increased the handling fee for redemption centers to keep them financially viable. Another new law, LD 1909, will streamline the container sorting process for redemption centers; establish a “commingling cooperative” of beverage manufacturers to coordinate the pickup of and payment for redeemed bottles and cans; and redirect unredeemed deposits from beverage companies to a fund used for program improvements.

In Vermont, where redemption rates dropped from 78 percent in 2021 to 72 percent in 2022, CRI says legislation (H. 158) was passed earlier this year that would expand deposit coverage to most beverage types at 5 cents, as well as wine at 15 cents. It also would require more redemption centers to serve consumers. Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the bill, but the state’s general assembly will have the opportunity to override the veto when it reconvenes in January.

At 38 percent in both 2021 and 2022, CRI notes Massachusetts sits last among bottle bill states, with one reason being that only 40 percent of beverage types currently are on deposit. The organization notes a bill (H.3690) introduced for the 2023-2024 legislative cycle would expand the bottle bill to include more types of beverage containers and increase the deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents. CRI estimates that these upgrades would result in the recycling of more than 3 billion additional bottles and cans annually over and above what is now recycled.

Collins notes Massachusetts’ current redemption rate is still higher than the U.S. nominal recycling rate of 24 percent for beverage containers not on deposit.

CRI also compared U.S. redemption rates with those around the globe. The report shows that outside of the U.S., the adoption of beverage container deposit return systems (DRS) continues to grow, adding that at the end of 2022, approximately 444 million people in 44 jurisdictions across the globe were covered by a DRS. The organization says with the expected implementation of already-announced laws and the potential approval of a packaging regulation covering the entire European Union, that number could increase to just over 1 billion by the end of the decade.

The report includes locations such as British Columbia (76 percent redemption rate in 2021), Germany (98 percent in 2021), South Australia (78 percent in 2021-2022) and Sweden (87 percent in 2022).

“Given the success of beverage container deposit return systems worldwide, all signs now point to a national bottle bill in the U.S. becoming a reality,” Collins says. “But in the meantime, it’s critical to work on the passage, implementation and expansion of state bottle bills to improve recycling rates and further contribute to increases in circularity.”