CRI data show decline in beverage container redemption rates

Beverage container redemption rates for 2023 in seven of the nine U.S. deposit return system (DRS, or bottle bill) states with available data fell in the range of 1 percent to 4 percent compared to 2022, according to data released by the Culver City, California-based Container Recycling Institute (CRI).

Overall findings from the nonprofit’s data compilation show notable redemption rate decreases of 4 percent in Hawaii; 3 percent in Michigan, 2 percent in Massachusetts and New York and 1 percent in California, Connecticut and Maine. The organization notes that Maine’s redemption rate is based on data from only half of the state’s distributors, making the final number subject to change. For Iowa, a detailed study conducted by CRI determined the state’s 2022 rate was 49 percent.

Oregon and Vermont each recorded a 1 percent increase in their redemption rates.

CRI President Susan Collins says that although the redemption rate decreases from 2022 to 2023 may not seem significant, data since 2017 primarily show downward redemption rate trends, including a drop in Massachusetts by 21 percent (from 57 percent to 36 percent) and in Michigan by 18 percent (from 91 percent to 73 percent), both over seven years. Also, the redemption rate calculated in Iowa in 2016 was 67 percent, meaning it dropped by 18 percent between then and 2022.

“These trends point to the need for more deposit return system modernizations, such as higher container deposit amounts, coverage of more beverage types and additional convenient options for consumers to return bottles and cans,” Collins says. “We’ve seen some progress on this front in recent years—particularly with several program upgrades in Oregon and Connecticut’s 2021 passage of major expansion legislation—but not enough.”

Collins says that higher redemption rates are increasingly crucial to ensure a greater supply of clean, high-quality material to meet recycled content laws adopted in several jurisdictions, as well as plastics reduction commitments from major brands.

In 2020, four of the largest trade associations for beverage container materials—the National Association of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) Container Resources (NAPCOR), the Aluminum Association, the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI)—issued a statement on the critical importance of deposit beverage containers in the materials supply chain.

Part of the statement reads: “Material from beverage container deposit systems generally accounts for 20 percent to 60 percent of the inputs our industries use to make our essential packaging. The high quality of recyclables collected and purchased by our industries from these programs require very little sortation and can go quickly back into our manufacturing processes.”

Collins says modernization is required for several state DRS systems, as well as the establishment of new programs in non-DRS states, or the passage of a “well-designed national law, so manufacturers and suppliers have access to enough recycled content moving forward.”

“Upgraded and new programs also would bring the significant environmental and economic benefits we know deposit return systems provide,” she says.

Collins says data validate that modernized DRS programs make a significant difference in redemption rates. As Oregon has enhanced its program over the last 15 years to provide a 10-cent deposit, cover nearly all beverage types and establish a robust bottle and can return infrastructure, the redemption rate has increased from 73 percent in 2017 to a nation-leading 87 percent in 2023.

She also notes that program modernizations passed in Connecticut and California over the last three years should lead to increases in the volume of bottles and cans redeemed as the new provisions take effect and consumers adjust their behavior to return the newly eligible containers for deposit refunds.

CRI says Connecticut’s program upgrades, which are being implemented in stages, are beginning to show results. Deposit coverage was added to noncarbonated beverages, hard cider and malt-based hard cider effective Jan. 1, 2023, and the deposit amount was increased from 5 cents to 10 cents effective Jan. 1 of this year. The state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection recently reported that the redemption rate increased from 43.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023 to 53.5 percent in the first quarter of 2024.

The addition of deposits on wine and spirits took effect Jan. 1 in California, and CRI estimates this move should result in more than 500 million additional containers recycled annually once consumers fully adopt the practice of returning these new containers. California legislation also placed deposits on 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices in larger sizes than previously included in its DRS program, adding coverage to an estimated 188 million new containers.

Collins says it is important to remember that while enhanced and new DRS programs are needed, the rate of what CRI deems a weaker program, such as Massachusetts (36 percent redemption rate in 2023) is still 10 percentage points higher than the U.S. nominal recycling rate of 26 percent for containers not on deposit.

“It is encouraging to see greater interest in new and upgraded DRS programs across the nation,” Collins says. “Based on decades of data, we know that these programs are the single most effective way to increase beverage container recycling rates—a key element of creating a more circular economy.”