Fact Sheet: Why Update the Massachusetts Bottle Bill?
Background:
The American Beverage Association, supported by Polar Beverages, has spent millions of dollars over the last two decades to oppose an updated Massachusetts Bottle Bill, along with contributions to legislators and ad campaigns, such as the one to defeat the 2014 Ballot initiative to expand the system.
While Polar Beverages portrays itself as a Massachusetts company, it really is one of the largest bottlers in the country, with huge facilities in Georgia, Texas, and New York. Polar sells beverages in all 50 states. Their main concern is not the handling fees they would have to pay if the Massachusetts system were expanded; 95% of Polar’s Massachusetts products are already covered by the existing Bottle Bill. Their larger concern is whether Bottle Bills would be adopted in other states.
A 2024 statewide poll shows that 82% of registered voters support modernizing the Bottle Bill. Support for the proposal is bipartisan.
As residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we are tired of corporate interests blocking our legislative process.
The new law should:
• Cover glass, plastic, and aluminum beverage containers,* from nips to 3 liters.
• Increase deposits from 5 to 10 cents.
• Assess return rates over time to determine if future increases are needed.
• Enable beverage container return to any store that sells bottled and/or canned drinks.
• Incentivize transition from single-use plastic bottles to reusable glass bottles and a regional beverage refill system.
We want an expanded Bottle Bill because it will:
• Save cities and towns money. Disposal and curbside recycling of beverage containers is costly to municipalities and taxpayers.
• Make our communities cleaner. In Massachusetts, beverage containers made up approximately 17% of all litter. Modernizing the Bottle Bill will significantly reduce the amount of litter in the Commonwealth by incentivising higher rates of return.
• Fight climate change. This bill will reduce as much carbon emissions as taking 39,800 cars off the road for a year – and it won’t cost taxpayers a cent!
• Increases best use of materials. Modernizing the Bottle Bill results in more glass, plastic, and aluminum being recycled into new containers or repurposed instead of being disposed of in landfills.
How much money will the updated Bottle Bill save?
• Cities and towns will save money on waste management, litter cleanup, and curbside recycling. About 175,000 tons of beverage containers end up in the trash in Massachusetts each year. Taxpayers pay for all landfill waste disposal in the form of “tipping fees” or “gate fees.” That tonnage will be diverted from municipal waste streams into beverage return systems, saving residents millions of dollars.
• Reloop North America estimates that if a modern Bottle Bill is implemented, the total savings in Massachusetts will be between $26.7 million and $36.5 million a year. Reloop estimates that the City of Boston alone will see a net savings of $4.1 million to $4.4 million a year.
Massachusetts residents are proud that our state has been a leader in fighting climate change. Let’s continue to lead the nation in this vital effort, for the sake of our health and the well-being of our planet.
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*Bottles containing milk, dairy products and medicine are not included.
https://just-zero.org
Brad Petrishon, “Bottle Bill Returns- Ballot Question Seeks to Expand Containers,”
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) Oct. 15, 2014.
https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Question_2,_Expansion_of_Bottle_Deposits_Initiative_(2014)
Data downloaded from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (https://www.ocpf.us/)
Feb. 8, 2026.
3/3/2026