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Statewide public opinion polls conducted in New York, Iowa and Michigan over the past 10 months reveal that support for bottle bills is robust across all sectors of the population. The surveys were designed to gauge public response to proposed reforms to existing deposit laws. In all three states, two out of three respondents said they supported expanding the current deposit laws to include non-alcoholic, non-carbonated beverages such as bottled water, juice, sports drinks, and iced teas.
The statewide poll of 800 randomly sampled registered voters in New York found that 78% of those surveyed agreed that the bottle bill has made New York cleaner, and 81% agreed that curbside recycling is "not enough," and that "we need the bottle-deposit program to control litter."
"New Yorkers understand that the bottle bill benefits our environment and that a combination of curbside recycling and bottle bills is needed to adequately address litter and solid waste issues," said David Higby, solid waste projector director for Environmental Advocates of New York.
The New York survey also found that 84% of the respondents supported the current deposit law, and 86% supported a proposal that the state retain unclaimed deposits to fund environmental
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programs. The survey also found that 19% of respondents did not know that the beverage industry currently keeps all unclaimed deposits.
"With state and local governments facing huge funding gaps, lawmakers would be remiss to overlook the revenue from taking back unclaimed deposits," said Mark Izeman, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "This poll shows there is overwhelming public support for this reform, which would generate nearly $180 million a year for environmental programs in New York." Public Policy Associates (PPA), a national research firm based in Lansing, Michigan, conducted two of the three polls. "The polls in New York and Michigan showed that women and men, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, young and old, people of all races, ethnic backgrounds, and income levels, strongly support the current law and proposed reforms," said Jeffrey D. Padden, president of PPA. "These survey results in three states confirm what has been found in dozens of other statewide and national polls conducted over the past three decades," said Pat Franklin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute.
New Bottle Bill Proposals
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