Raising the refund amount for containers recycled at redemption centers from 5 to 10 cents is expected to bring $12 million in revenue to the state, according to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal. Further, it likely would have the added benefit of increasing the redemption rate, keeping more glass and plastic out of the waste stream, said Dennis Schain, spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Under the current bottle bill, consumers in Connecticut can return soda, water and beer bottles and cans to redemption centers for a 5-cent return on each container. Distributors give unclaimed deposits to the state. The governor’s proposal aims to increase that deposit for each container to 10 cents.

“Since its start in 1980, there has been little change in the deposit amount,” said Chris McClure, a spokesman for the state Office of Policy and Management. Michigan, which has a 10-cent deposit, “reports the highest recycling rate of any state and we would hope to match their results,” McClure said

The Michigan Department of Treasury reported in 2014 that the state had an average redemption rate of more than 96 percent. McClure said the provision would not go into effect until July 1, 2018, and the expected $12 million in revenue would be for fiscal 2019. Based on data provided by DEEP, redemption rates have varied greatly since 2009, with the fourth quarter of 2013 clocking a redemption rate as high as 76.1 percent, but the second quarter of 2016 coming in at 42.3 percent.

If the provision were passed, Connecticut would join Michigan as the only other state that offers 10 cents per bottle or can deposited at a redemption center. Oregon will be going to a deposit of 10 cents per bottle or can in April, according to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

Other states with bottle-redemption bills include California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. Most have a 5-cent return value, though California and Vermont offer 15 cents for liquor bottles.

Nyiesha Evans, a nurse’s aide in Hamden, said she goes to the SARAH Inc. redemption center on Foxon Road in East Haven about twice per month. She said she collects cans and bottles from her neighbors, coworkers and family to bring back because she believes it’s good for the environment. An increase to 10 cents would be great, she said, adding that more people might visit redemption centers themselves if the return was 10 cents. But how many trips she makes to the redemption center still would depend on how many containers she collects, she said.

“I believe in it,” Evans said. “Every dollar counts.”

When containers are brought to redemption centers in Connecticut, machines crush them and sell them back to the distributor, which does the recycling of the glass and plastic, said Pat Bourne, executive director of SARAH Inc., a company with a redemption center in East Haven.

Bourne said the return of bottles and cans can be cyclical in nature, in terms of redemption rates, and usually there are higher rates in summertime when the weather is better, travel to centers is easier and people generally are buying more drinks. She said redemption centers provide an important service to those who need the money to buy groceries, and help to protect the environment at the same time.

“To redeem bottles and cans is really a win-win situation,” she said.

To read the full story, visit http://www.nhregister.com/government-and-politics/20170226/connecticut-considers-raising-bottle-and-can-deposits-to-10-cents.

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