The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) supports HB 5618, which would increase the beverage container handling fee that is paid to redemption centers and retailers by one cent. CRI opposes Senate Bill 996, “An Act Establishing a Bottle Recycling Fee In Lieu of a Refundable Deposit.” It would repeal the existing beverage container deposit law (the “bottle bill”), and would impose a 4-cent fee on all carbonated and most non-carbonated beverages, with revenues sent to the state’s General Fund and a new “Recycling Fee Account” to be used for various programs.
