Support The Maryland Bottle Bill To Reduce Litter And Plastic Pollution And Increase Recycling Of Beverage Containers In Maryland!

Marylanders buy more than 5.5 billion beverage containers annually, but only about a quarter of them are recycled. More than four billion containers every year end up in the environment – in the landfill, incinerated, or littering the landscape and waterways. This is not just a waste of resources: it results in more greenhouse gas emissions and energy use for new products, reduces water quality, and perpetuates plastic pollution.

Beverage containers are half of the trash by volume in the Anacostia River watershed and are pervasive in Baltimore Harbor. Plastic bottles are the third most frequently littered plastic in beach cleanups. They break into microplastics, are consumed by wildlife, and move up the food chain. Humans are ingesting up to a credit card’s worth of plastic a week!

The Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program a.k.a. the Maryland Bottle Bill would reduce beverage container and plastic pollution, and more than triple Maryland’s recycling rate for beverage containers, to 90%. It would add a small deposit to the cost of beverage containers that is refunded to customers when the containers are returned for recycling. Under this program, you’re buying the beverage, but borrowing the container. The deposit is a powerful incentive to return used beverage containers and to collect those that are littered for their refund value!

Ten states, covering about 90 million people, have longstanding, successful beverage container recycling refund programs that reduced beverage container litter as much as 84%. Michigan and Oregon have achieved beverage container recycling rates of 90% with a 10-cent deposit. These programs collect clean, source-separated materials that can be used in the production of new containers, reducing greenhouse gasses and saving energy compared to products made from virgin materials. Deposit programs are by far and away the most successful policy in existence in terms of reducing beverage container waste; they are critical for success in the next phase of waste reduction: promoting refillable and reusable beverage containers. Every year we wait, more than 4 billion additional beverage containers enter the environment.

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I am writing to ask you to please pass the Maryland Beverage Container Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Program, a.k.a. the Maryland Bottle Bill, to reduce beverage container litter and plastic pollution and increase beverage container recycling. Marylanders buy more than 5.5 billion beverage containers annually, but only about a quarter of them are recycled. More than four billion containers every year end up in the environment - in the landfill, incinerated, or littering the landscape and waterways. Beverage containers are half of the trash by volume in the Anacostia River watershed and are pervasive in Baltimore Harbor. Plastic bottles are the third most frequently littered plastic in beach cleanups. They break into microplastics, are consumed by wildlife, and move up the food chain. Humans are ingesting up to a credit card's worth of plastic a week. The Maryland Bottle Bill would reduce beverage container litter and plastic pollution, and more than triple the recycling rate for beverage containers in Maryland to 90 percent. It would add a small deposit to the cost of beverage containers that is refunded to customers when the containers are returned for recycling. Under this program, you are buying the beverage, but borrowing the container. The deposit is a powerful incentive to return used beverage containers and to collect those that are littered, for their refund value. Ten US states, covering about 90 million people, have longstanding recycling refund programs. Programs like these have reduced beverage container litter by as much as 84 percent. Michigan and Oregon have achieved beverage container recycling rates of 90 percent with a 10-cent deposit. These programs collect clean, source-separated materials that can be used in the production of new containers, reducing greenhouse gasses and saving energy compared to products made from virgin materials. The Maryland Bottle Bill would lower the costs to local governments for recycling, landfilling, incinerating, and collection of littered beverage containers, while creating new green jobs. It would be entirely self-financed and ease the burden on taxpayers. A public opinion poll in late 2024 found that 90 percent of registered voters in Maryland would support a beverage container redemption program with a 10-cent refundable deposit, financed by beverage companies, not taxpayers! The Maryland Bottle Bill has momentum! It passed the House Environment and Transportation Committee in the 2025 General Assembly. Please support the Maryland Bottle Bill in 2026! Every year we wait, more than 4 billion additional beverage containers enter the environment.

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