Deposit return schemes (bottle bills) on beverage containers
#00089
Add a small refundable deposit to drink containers, repaid on return. The financial incentive drives return rates above 90% and is the best-evidenced single intervention for container litter, cutting it roughly 40–80% across many jurisdictions.
New York State, USA
SuccessNew York's Returnable Container Act originally covered carbonated beverages. The 2009 'Bigger Better Bottle Bill' expanded the deposit to bottled water (PET containers). Roadside litter composition data showed plastic-b…
Oregon, USA
SuccessOregon's Bottle Bill (1971) was the first deposit-return law in the United States. Roadside surveys documented that beverage containers fell from roughly 40% of roadside litter before the law to approximately 6% by 1979…
New York State, USA
SuccessNew York's 1982 container-deposit law was expanded in 2009 ('Bigger Better Bottle Bill') to include bottled water (PET containers). This legislative extension to a new container type provides a replicable model: an exis…
Oregon, USA
SuccessThe first US bottle bill, enacted in Oregon in 1971, placed a refundable deposit on beer and soft-drink containers. Within two years total roadside litter dropped ~39% by count, and by 1979 beverage containers had falle…